Abies flinckii description

Abies flinckii

Rushforth 1989

Common names

None. In Mexico, the species is likely regarded as a typical fir and thus would usually be called Abeto, Pinabete, or perhaps Oyamel. The logical English name would be Flinck fir.

Taxonomic notes

Rushforth (1989) described this species after seeing it in habitat and reviewing extant herbarium collections. The type is from Mexico, Jalisco, Nevado de Colima, "in and above the Pueblo of El Izote", elevation 2350 m, 1984.11.09, Rushforth 621 (holo. XAL,iso. E). This location corresponds to (19.63 -103.64).

Syn.: A. religiosa var. emarginata; Abies guatemalensis var. jaliscana (pro parte).

The Mexican firs present a long-standing taxonomic puzzle (though not nearly as problematic as the Mexican pines). All of the species belong to Abies sections Grandis and Oiamel, and they have diverged over quite a long period of time, approximately the past 55 million years (Aguirre-Planter et al. 2012; Xiang et al. 2015, 2018). Nearly all of the currently-recognized species have now been established as distinct using independent lines of morphological and molecular evidence, with the exception of A. jaliscana, which is established on morphological and ecological/biogeographical evidence. That evidence, coupled with molecular evidence establishing the relationship between A. flinckii and the other Mexican firs, indicates that A. flinckii and A. jaliscana are sister species within a clade that includes all of the Mexican Abies (including A. concolor, with a distribution mostly in the USA) (Semerikova et al. 2018, Xiang et al. 2018). A. flinckii was first shown to be distinct on molecular grounds by Aguirre-Planter et al. (2000), who showed the taxon to distinct from other Mexican Abies, and accrual of morphological and molecular evidence has since established A. flinckii as a good species (Rushforth 1989, Aguirre-Planter et al. 2000, Jaramillo-Correa et al. 2008, Strandby et al. 2009, Aguirre-Planter et al. 2012, Cruz-Nicolás et al. 2020).

Description

Trees to 100 cm dbh and 35 m tall, typically with a single round bole of spreading branches that often bend downwards in old trees. Bark gray, smooth, with age becoming scaly. Twigs slender, green, puberulous, maturing olive-brown. Buds 2-4 mm diameter, purple-gray, globose or conical, apex obtuse, very resinous. Leaves pectinate, slightly drooping at the tips, widely parted, in 2-3 rows, side leaves spreading or aligned slightly forwards, upper ranks pointing forwards at 45-60° to the shoot, lax, (20-)35-70 × 1.5-2 mm, sometimes larger on shaded shoots and seedlings, upper rank of leaves half as long as lower rank; adaxially green and grooved, base slightly twisted or straight, apex rounded or bluntly bifid, bifid on seedlings and epicormic shoots. Stomata borne in a variable pale band in the adaxial groove, or absent, and abaxially in two pale white bands. Pollen cones 30-40 × 7 mm, pollen cone buds cylindrical with a rounded apex, 7 mm diameter, resinous, scattered on the undersides of twigs. Mature seed cones borne on 1 cm peduncles, oblong-conical, apex bluntly, 12-16 × 4-4.5 cm. Rachis narrowly conical, 8 mm thick at base, 2.5 mm at tip. Ovuliferous scales flabellate, 25-27 × 30-40 mm at mid-cone, flange-like margins erose. Bract scales oblong-obovate, 25 × 7 mm, exserted, spreading, apex triangular, acute. Seed 8-9 × 4 mm with an 11-15 mm light brown wing (Rushforth 1989).

Vázquez-García et al. (2014) distinguish A. flinckii and A. jaliscana from other Abies of western Mexico (A. durangensis, A. religiosa) by their long leaves, 35-70(-90) mm long, apex obtuse or emarginate, and a seed cone length/width ratio of 2.5 or greater. A. flinckii and A. jaliscana can be distinguished as follows:

A. flinckii: cones olive-green, 12-16 × 4-4.5 cm; cone length/width ratio 2.9-3.4; ovuliferous scales with flabellate, erose margins 2.5-2.7 × 3-4 cm and exserted and spreading bract scales, in anthesis February-March; receptive female strobili 7 × 2.4 cm, ripening in November; pollen cones 30-40 × 7 mm; leaves >1.5 mm wide.
A. jaliscana: cones green or purplish, 5-12 × 2.5-4 cm; cone length/width ratio (2.4-)2.5-2.8; ovuliferous scales reniform, concave in the beginning and reflexed outward 1.8-2 × 2-2.5 cm and exserted or included bract scales, in anthesis November-January; receptive female strobili 3.5 × 1.5 cm, ripening in late April-May; pollen cones 9-17 × 44-61 mm; leaves <1.5 mm wide.

Distribution and Ecology

Mexico: Colima, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos (single collections also reported from Guerrero, Oaxaca and Tamaulipas, but the identifications are questionable). Occurs at elevations of 1900-2400 m on sites with a warm-temperate or subtropical climate. Common associates include a variety of species of Pinus, Tilia mexicana, Styrax officinalis var. jaliscana, Arbutus xalapensis, and sundry species of Alnus, Cornus, Fraxinus, Juglans, Ostrya, Quercus, and Rhus (Rushforth 1989). The IUCN does not yet recognize this taxon, treating it as synonymous with Abies jaliscana, which is "Near Threatened" due primarily to its limited extent of occurrence. A. flinckii, having an even more restricted extent, would likely qualify as "Threatened" or "Endangered".

Distribution of Abies flinckii. Data downloaded 2023.11.25 from GBIF; see description in map (click on tray icon) for further detail; click on points for further data.

Remarkable Specimens

Hugo Basurto (email 2023.11.25) reports measuring a tree in Morelos at 40.3 m tall (laser, sine method).

Ethnobotany

Given the very localized distribution of this species, it is unlikely that indigenous people distinguished it from other Mexican firs, and it was likely put to the same uses as more widespread taxa, particularly Abies religiosa, which has a similar distribution.

Observations

No data as of 2023.11.25, except that there are a number of observations recorded on iNaturalist.

Remarks

The epithet honors of Karl Evert Flinck, of Bjuv, Sweden, "in appreciation for his assistance with my trip to Mexico" (Rushforth 1989).

Citations

Aguirre-Planter, Érika, Glenn R. Furnier, and Luis E. Eguiarte. 2000. Low levels of genetic variation within and high levels of genetic differentiation among populations of species of Abies from southern Mexico and Guatemala. American Journal of Botany 87:362-371.

Aguirre-Planter, Érika, Juan P. Jaramillo-Correa, Sandra Gómez-Acevedo, Damase P. Khasa, Jean Bousquet, and Luis E. Eguiarte. 2012. Phylogeny, diversification rates and species boundaries of Mesoamerican firs (Abies, Pinaceae) in a genus-wide context. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 62(1):263-274.

Cruz-Nicolás, Jorge, Gustavo Giles-Pérez, Eréndira González-Linares, Julia Múgica-Gallart, Andrés Lira-Noriega, David S. Gernandt, Luis E. Eguiarte, and Juan P. Jaramillo-Correa. 2020. Contrasting evolutionary processes drive morphological and genetic differentiation in a subtropical fir (Abies, Pinaceae) species complex. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 192(2):401-420.

Eckenwalder, James E. 2009. Conifers of the World. Portland, OR: Timber Press. ISBN 978-0-88192-974-4.

Jaramillo‐Correa, Juan P., Érika Aguirre-Planter, Damase P. Khasa, Luis E. Eguiarte, Daniel Pinero, Glenn R. Furnier, and Jean Bousquet. 2008. Ancestry and divergence of subtropical montane forest isolates: molecular biogeography of the genus Abies (Pinaceae) in southern México and Guatemala. Molecular Ecology 17(10):2476-2490.

Rushforth, Keith D. 1989. Two new species of Abies (Pinaceae) from western Mexico. Notes RBG Edinb. 46(1):101-109.

Semerikova, Svetlana A., Yuliya Y. Khrunyk, Martin Lascoux, and Vladimir L. Semerikov. 2018. From America to Eurasia: A multigenomes history of the genus Abies. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 125:14-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.03.009.

Strandby, U., K.I. Christensen, and M. Sørensen. 2009. A morphometric study of the Abies religiosa-hickelii-guatemalensis complex (Pinaceae) in Guatemala and Mexico. Plant Systematics and Evolution 280:59-76.

Vazquez-García, J. Antonio, Viacheslav Shalisko, Ramon Cuevas-Guzmán, Miguel A. Muñiz-Castro, and Mauricio R. Manilla-Blandón. 2014. Abies jaliscana (Pinaceae): A new combination in section Grandis and a key to the species of Abies in western Mexico. Phytotaxa 183(1):27-36.

Xiang, Qiao-Ping, Ran Wei, Yi-Zhen Shao, Zu-Yu Yang, Xiao-Quan Wang, and Xian-Chun Zhang. 2015. Phylogenetic relationships, possible ancient hybridization, and biogeographic history of Abies (Pinaceae) based on data from nuclear, plastid, and mitochondrial genomes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 82:1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2014.10.008.

Xiang, Qiao‐Ping, Ran Wei, Yan‐Mei Zhu, A. J. Harris, and Xian‐Chun Zhang. 2018. New infrageneric classification of Abies in light of molecular phylogeny and high diversity in western North America. Journal of Systematics and Evolution 56(5):562-72. https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.12458.