Abies chensiensis (秦岭冷杉) description

Abies chensiensis

Tiegh. (1892)

Common names

Shensi fir; 秦岭冷杉 qin ling leng shan [Chinese] (Fu et al. 1999).

Taxonomic notes

There are four varieties:

A. chensiensis var. chensiensis.
A. chensiensis var. ernestii (Rehder) Tang S.Liu, Quart. J. Taiwan Mus. 25: 94 (1972).
A. chensiensis var. salouenensis (Bordères & Gaussen) Silba, Phytologia 68: 10 (1990).
A. chensiensis var. yulongxueshanensis (Rushforth) Silba, Phytologia 68: 10 (1990).

For full synonymy see POWO. The four varieties have largely disjunct distributions, but their morphological differences are small and I have not seen any clear exposition of their ecological differences; moreover their history as discrete taxa is only traceable to the late Pleistocene. They could equally be treated as varieties, or subspecies.

This is a member of Abies section Pseudopicea, the largest section of Abies, comprised entirely of East Asian species, and a discrete group since about the early Miocene. The infraspecific structure has been assessed using both morphological and molecular evidence; var. ernestii was formerly often treated at species rank, while vars. salouenensis and yulongxueshanensis were recognized at subspecies rank by Farjon (1990, 2010), and are so represented in much of the literature. A. recurvata is a sister species. These five taxa, collectively the "Abies chensiensis complex", have largely disjunct distributions and have similar but clearly distinct morphological characters and both plastid and mitochondrial genomes (Shao and Xiang 2015).

Description

Trees to 50 m tall and 250 cm dbh, with a straight round trunk and short, massive primary branches. Bark on young trees dark grey and smooth, becoming longitudinally fissured on old trees. Branchlets stout, yellow-grey to yellow-brown, shiny, ridged between leaf scars, glabrous or puberulent; leaf scars round with a light center. Vegetative buds conical or ovoid, 10 × 6 mm or larger on some leading shoots, resinous; bud scales triangular to ovate, red-brown, persistent. Leaves ± pectinately arranged in 2 lateral sets, dark green adaxially, linear, flattened, 1.5-4.8 cm × 2.5-3 mm, twisted at base, grooved above; stomata in two broad bands divided by a midrib below; resin canals 2, marginal or median on cone-bearing branchlets, apex variable. Pollen cones lateral, 10 mm long. Seed cones lateral, erect on short peduncles, green, ripening brown, cylindric or ovoid-cylindric, 7-10 × 3-4 cm, leaving a persistent, conical, dark brown rachis. Seed scales at middle of cones variously described [I have not seen them] as ovate-cuneate to cyathiform or reniform, ca. 1.5 × 2.5 cm or 2.5-3 × 3-3.5 cm, tomentose to puberulent. Bracts included, ligulate, ca. 3/4 as long as seed scales, distal margin erose-denticulate, apex with short cusp. Seeds brown, obovoid, 8-10 × 5 mm, with a pale brown cuneate 20 × 10 mm wing (Farjon 1990, Fu et al. 1999). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.

Var. chensiensis has ash-gray twigs and the leaves have 11 lines of stomata on the abaxial surface (Silba 1990). The leaves are 20-45 mm long, the seed cones 8-11 cm long, with medial resin canals in the leaves of coning shoots (Farjon 1990, 2010).

Var. ernestii differs in having foliage that is 25-35 mm long and typically not straight, with leaves having an emarginate (notched) rather than acute apex (Farjon 1990, Wu and Raven 1999).

Var. yulongxueshanensis differs in having 10-14 cm long seed cones and marginal resin canals in leaves of coning shoots (Farjon 1990, 2010).

Var. salouenensis differs in having leaves 40-75 mm long and marginal resin canals in the leaves of coning shoots (Farjon 1990, 2010).

Distribution and Ecology

China: S Gansu, Henan, W Hubei, S Shaanxi, W Sichuan, NW Yunnan, SE Xizang (Tibet); India: Arunachal Pradesh. It grows in cold, moist forests at 2100-3600 m elevation, in regions with annual precipitation of 700-2000 mm. It is usually found with Picea spp., Abies fargesii var. sutchuenensis, Tsuga chinensis, Larix potaninii at high elevations, and Betula spp. at lower elevations; also as a pure forest in Tsin-ling Shan (Farjon 1990, 2010). Hardy to Zone 6 (cold hardiness limit between -23.2°C and -17.8°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

Var. yulongxueshanensis is found on Yulongxue Shan in the Lijiang Shan of northern Yunnan (Farjon 1990).

Var. ernestii is found in SW Gansu, W Sichuan, NW Yunnan?, and SE Xizang (Tibet) (Farjon 2010, as A. recurvata var. ernestii).

Var. salouenensis is found in China: NW Yunnan, SE Xizang (Tibet) and India: NE Arunachal Pradesh (Farjon 1990, 2010).

Distribution of species in the A. chensiensis complex, based on data from GBIF (2025). White icons are A. chensiensis without a variety determination, but most are likely var. chensiensis. Gray icons are A. recurvata without a variety determination; some of these may be assignable to A. chensiensis var. ernestii. Orange, lavender, blue, and gold icons are A. chensiensis var. chensiensis, ernestii, salouenensis, and yulongxueshanensis, respectively. Click on an icon for more information.

See Shao and Xiang (2015) for variety distribution maps showing plastid and mitochondrial variability, and a discussion of likely distribution changes in these taxa since the last interglacial period.

Remarkable Specimens

The tallest specimen of the Pinaceae in China is a specimen of subsp. salouensis (reported under the name used in the Flora of China, A. ernestii var. salouenensis) at 2300 m elevation in Zayu Xian of Tibet, measured at 83.2 m tall and 207 cm dbh (Xinhua 2022).

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2023.02.22.

Observations

No data as of 2023.02.22.

Remarks

The epithet recalls an early Romanization of the name of the province, Shaanxi, where the type locality occurs: the Qinling Mountains in southern Shaanxi, at elevations of >3000 m (Tieghem 1892).

Citations

Cheng Wan-chün, Fu Li-kuo, Law Yu-wu, Fu Shu-hsia, Wang Wen-tsai, Chu Cheng-de, Chao Chi-son and Chen Chia-jui. 1978. Pinaceae. In: Cheng Wan-chün and Fu Li-kuo, eds., Flora Reipubl. Popularis Sinica 7: 32-281.

Farjon, Aljos. 1990. Pinaceae: drawings and descriptions of the genera Abies, Cedrus, Pseudolarix, Keteleeria, Nothotsuga, Tsuga, Cathaya, Pseudotsuga, Larix and Picea. Königstein: Koeltz Scientific Books.

GBIF. 2025. GBIF Occurrence Downloads https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.fsndqr, https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.ezpwzm, and https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.xxyeyh, accessed 2025.01.17. Data cleaned to assign taxa based on current synonymy, remove location duplicates, remove obviously erroneous names or locations, etc.

Shao, Yi-Zhen, and Qiao-Ping Xiang. 2015. Species delimitation and phylogeography of the Abies chensiensis complex inferred from morphological and molecular data. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 177(2):175-188.

Tieghem, M. Ph. Van. 1892. Structure et Affinites des Abies et des Genres les plus Voisins. Bull. Soc. Bot. France 38:413. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2025.01.17.

Xinhua. 2022.05.18. China's tallest tree found in Tibet, 83.2 meters high. https://www.shine.cn/news/nation/2205185785/, accessed 2022.07.08.