''Abies delavayi'', the Delavay's silver-fir or Delavay's fir, is a species of fir, native to

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

in southwest

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and adjoining border areas in southeastern

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

, far northeastern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, northern

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, and far northwestern

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. It is a high altitude mountain tree, growing at elevations of 3,000–4,000 m (exceptionally down to 2,400 m and up to 4,300 m), often occupying the

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snowp ...

. The species is named after its discoverer, Father Pierre Jean Marie Delavay, who collected it at 3,500–4,000 m on the

Cang Mountain Cangshan or Cang Mountain () is a mountain range immediately west of Dali City in Yunnan province of Southwest China. The highest summit, Malong, is 4,122 m, but the range includes another 18 peaks that are over 3,500 m elevation. History The mo ...

near Dali.Franchet, A. (1899). Plantarum Sinensium. ''J. de Botanique'' 13: 253-260. It is a small to medium-sized evergreen

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

growing to 7–40 m tall, often less at tree line. The shoots are purple-brown to dark red-brown, glabrous or finely pubescent. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are needle-like, 15–30 mm long and 1–2 mm broad, with a distinctive revolute margin. The upper surface of the leaves is glossy dark green with no stomata, the underside vivid snow-white with the stomata densely covered in white wax; this is thought to be an adaptation to exclude very heavy rain in its

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

climate.Rushforth, K. (1984). Abies delavayi and A. fabri. ''Int. Dendrol. Soc. Yearb.'' 1983: 118-120. The

cones A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines conn ...

are dark purple-blue, 6–12 cm long and 3–4.5 cm broad, with numerous small scales and exserted bracts; they break up when mature at 6–8 months old to release the winged seeds. Trees at lower elevation (2,400–3,000 m) differ in having the leaf margin less revolute, and are separated as a variety ''Abies delavayi'' var. ''nukiangensis'' (Cheng & Fu) Farjon. Abies delavayi - Flickr - S

Plants in southeastern Tibet have been distinguished as ''Abies delavayi'' var. ''motuoensis'' Cheng & Fu, differing in paler, densely pubescent shoots. The Vietnamese population, with a disjunct range on

Fansipan Fansipan ( Vietnamese: ''Phan Xi Păng'', ) is a mountain in Vietnam. The height of the mountain was in 1909, but now the height of the mountain is . It is the highest mountain in the Indochinese Peninsula (comprising Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia ...

(at 3,143 m the highest mountain in Vietnam), is distinct in paler red-brown shoots and the cones having shorter bracts (not exserted), and is separated as a subspecies ''Abies delavayi'' subsp. ''fansipanensis'' (Q.P.Xiang) Rushforth (syn. ''Abies fansipanensis'' Q.P.Xiang).Rushforth, K. (1999). Taxonomic notes on some Sino-Himalayan conifers. ''Int. Dendrol. Soc. Yearb.'' 1998: 60-63. Delavay's fir is occasionally grown as an

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

, but its successful cultivation is limited to regions with cool summers and high rainfall, such as western

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and the Pacific coast of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. A semi-dwarf form originating at very high altitude has been selected as a

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

'Major Neishe', growing to 3–4 m tall.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abies delavayi delavayi Trees of Myanmar Trees of China Flora of East Himalaya Trees of Vietnam Flora of Tibet Flora of Yunnan