''Abies squamata'' 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, ...

. This fir is common in the Southeast of the

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the Ti ...

(

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 ...

) in an altitude from 3200 m to tree-line in 4400 m. It is dominant on North-facing slopes and often grows with Balfour's spruce, ''Picea balfouriana''. Government sector logging that was rampant until the logging ban in 1998 reduced fir stands significantly. Reforestation after the ban was dominated by spruce, since ''Abies squamata'' is susceptible to stem rot and thus shunned by the state forest bureaus (Ryavec & Winkler 2009). Undergrowth is most commonly dominated by members of the genus ''

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 ...

''. Local Tibetans know this fir as "bollo", but that term is a general term for firs and spruces.

References

* Ryavec, Karl & Winkler, Daniel 2009. Logging Impacts to Forests in Tibetan Areas of Southwest China. A Case Study from Ganze Prefecture Based on 1998 Landsat TM Imagery. In: Himalaya - Journal of the Association for Nepal & Himalayan Studies 2006, vol. 26.1: 38–45. link: http://mushroaming.com/sites/default/files/Ryavec%20Winkler%203-2009.pdf

squamata Squamata (, Latin ''squamatus'', 'scaly, having scales') is the largest order of reptiles, comprising lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians (worm lizards), which are collectively known as squamates or scaled reptiles. With over 10,900 species, ...

Trees of China Flora of Sichuan Flora of Tibet Vulnerable flora of Asia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{conifer-stub