''Abies forrestii'' is a species of

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

in the family

Pinaceae The Pinaceae, or pine family, are conifer trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as Cedrus, cedars, firs, Tsuga, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces. The family is included in the order Pinales, ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

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 ...

. It is named after the Scottish botanist and plant-hunter George Forrest (1873–1932), who discovered it for western science in

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, 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 ...

province. Its common names include Forrest's fir. This species is variable in morphology, and there are several varieties. Some of these are treated as separate species. In general, it grows up to about 20 meters tall. The needles are 1.5 to 4 centimeters long and the purplish, brown, or black cones are 7 to 12 centimeters long.''Abies forrestii''.
Flora of China. eFloras.org Varieties include: *''A. forrestii'' var. ''ferreana'' (syn. ''Abies chayuensis'') *''A. forrestii'' var. ''forrestii'' (syn. ''Abies chengii'') *''A. forrestii'' var. ''georgei'' – George's fir *''A. forrestii'' var. ''smithii'' This species grows in the mountains of southwestern China, sometimes at high altitudes. At lower elevations it grows in mixed forests with species such as ''

Picea likiangensis ''Picea likiangensis'', commonly known as Lijiang spruce, Lakiang spruce or Lijiang yunshan, is a species of spruce found in Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a lan ...

'', ''

Larix potaninii ''Larix potaninii'' is a species of larch conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found in China and Nepal. The one of southernmost species of the genus ''Larix'', the range of ''Larix potaninii'' extends southward almost to 27° N. Varieties , ...

'', ''

Tsuga dumosa ''Tsuga dumosa'', commonly called the Himalayan hemlock or in Chinese, Yunnan tieshan (), is a species of conifer native to the eastern Himalayas. It occurs in parts of Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Vietnam and Tibet. Within its native range t ...

'', and ''

Betula albosinensis ''Betula albosinensis'', the Chinese red birch, synonym (taxonomy), syn. ''B. bhojpattra'' var. ''sinensis'', ''B. utilis'' var. ''sinensis'', is a species of birch in the family (biology), family Betulaceae, native plant, native to Western China ...

''. It is sometimes a dominant member of the canopy in

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

woodlands. This tree is used for construction wood and pulp.

References

forrestii Least concern plants Trees of China Endemic flora of China Flora of Sichuan Flora of Tibet Flora of Yunnan Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{conifer-stub