Range of Abies cephalonica (5).
Common Names
Grecian fir (1).Taxonomic notes
One variety, graeca (Frans) Liu (=A. equi-trojani); see Remarks.Description
A broadly pyramidal tree to 30 m tall, 2.7-4.5 m girth, with long horizontal branches. Bark grey-brown, smooth, becoming fissured into oblong plates. Branchlets smooth, bright brown or reddish-brown. Buds conical or ovoid, resinous, scales visible at the apex, surrounded by the leaves, violet to reddish, somewhat pubescent, 1.2-1.6 mm diameter. Needles spirally arranged, not or rarely grooved above, keeled below, dark shiny green above, greenish-white below; with 2-3 short stomatal lines above and 6-7 lines below; 15-35 mm long by 2-3 mm wide, flattened in cross-section, apex sharp-pointed. Male cones ovoid, 14 mm long by 4 mm wide. Female cones narrowly cylindrical, brownish-red to violet, apex obtuse or with a nipple, somewhat resinous, 12-16 cm long by 3.8 cm wide; scales cuneiform, somewhat triangular; bracts short, erect, slightly protruding, golden-brown, triangularly pointed, about 2/3 the height of the scale. Seeds angular, reddish, winged, 12-19 mm long (1).Range
Greece: Epirus to Eubea region at 760-2000m (1); Turkey.Big Tree
No data on trees in their native range. Great Britain has a tree 116 cm dbh and 38 m tall at Bodnant, Gwynedd. One at Woodstock, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland has a dbh of 177 cm and is 36 m tall (3).Oldest
Dendrochronology
Ethnobotany
Observations
Remarks
A disjunct variety is A. cephalonica var. graeca, the Apollo fir (1) (= A. cephalonica var. apollinis (Link) Beissn.; A. nordmanniana subsp. equi-trojani (Asch. et Sinb.) Coode et Cullen (1); A. equi-trojani Aschers. et Sint.; A. nordmanniana var. equi-trojani Guinier & Maire (2)). It is described as "[a] narrowly conical tree 20-30 m tall, 1.8-4 m girth, with a somewhat rounded crown. Bark thick, divided into scaly plates, yellowish grey-brown. Branchlets shiny yellowish brown to orange-brown, non-pubescent. Buds ovoid, chestnut brown, resinous, scales free at the apex, apex obtuse, 1-1.2 mm diameter. Needles densely set, irregularly disposed, mostly lying forward and crowded on upper side of branchlet, curving upwards on the lower side of the branchlets, grooved above near the base, 15-30 mm long by 1.5-2 mm wide, 2 white stomatal bands below with 6-8 lines, apex pointed or obtuse. Female cones cylindric-ovoid, reddish-brown to dark brown, apex ovoid, to 10 cm long by 4-4.5 cm wide; bracts long exerted and reflexed, sharp pointed, lobed. Seeds to 6 mm long, to 22 mm long with wing." It is found in Greece: Mt. Parnassus to W. Anatolia, Turkey, at 760-2000 m (1). I have no data on the largest trees in their native range. A tree in Tacoma, Washington, USA is 148 cm dbh and 36 m tall (4).Citations
(1) Silba 1986.(2) Vidakovic 1991.
(3) Mitchell et al. 1990.
(4) E-mail communication from Robert Van Pelt, 3-Dec-1998.
(5) Atlas Florae Europaeae 1998.
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This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/~earlecj/pi/ab/cephalonica.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail:earlecj@earthlink.com
Last modified on 17-May-1999