Sicilian fir

Description

Abies nebrodensis, the Sicilian fir, is a fir native to the Madonie mountains in northern Sicily. It is a medium-size evergreen coniferous tree growing to 15-25 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 1 m. The leaves are needle-like, flattened, 1.5-2.5 cm long and 2 mm wide by 0.5 mm thick, glossy dark green above, and with two greenish-white bands of stomata below. The tip of the leaf is blunt with a notched tip, but sometimes with a pointed tip, particularly on shoots high on older trees. The cones are 10–16 cm long and 4 cm broad, with about 150 scales, each scale with an exserted bract and two winged seeds; they disintegrate when mature to release the seeds. Despite its scientific name, the species is of Mt. Scalone in the Madonie Mountains in the north-central part of Sicily. It is closely related to silver fir, Abies alba, which replaces it in the Apennine Mountains of Italy and elsewhere further north in Europe; some botanists treat Sicilian fir as a variety of silver fir, as Abies alba var. nebrodensis. A species of pine first described by Michele Lojacono-Pojero, and given the exact name by Giovanni Ettore Mattei is Abies nebrodensis. Abies nebrodensis belongs to the genus Abies in the family Pinaceae. The IUCN has classified the species as critically endangered. To date no tick has been listed under it by him.