''Abies nebrodensis'', the Sicilian fir, is a

fir Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...

native to the Madonie mountains in northern Sicily.

Taxonomy

It is closely related to silver fir, '' Abies alba'', which replaces it in the

Apennine Mountains The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

of Italy and elsewhere further north in Europe; some botanists treat Sicilian fir as a variety of silver fir, as ''Abies alba'' var. ''nebrodensis''.

Description

It is a medium-size evergreen

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

tree growing to 15–25 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 1 m. 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, 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 In botany, a stoma (from Greek ''στόμα'', "mouth", plural "stomata"), also called a stomate (plural "stomates"), is a pore found in the epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that controls the rate of gas exchange. The pore is bor ...

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.

Distribution

Despite its scientific name, the species is of Mt. Scalone in the Madonie Mountains in the north-central part of Sicily.''Abies nebrodensis''
- distribution map, genetic conservation units and related resources. European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN)

Ecology

It occurs at altitudes of 1400–1,600 metres. It is limited to the steep, dry slopes.

Conservation

As a result of deforestation, it is now extremely rare, with only 25 mature trees surviving; replanting programmes are meeting with limited success due to heavy grazing pressure by livestock belonging to local farmers. It has been classified as ' critically endangered' in the IUCN Red List in 2017. In the European Union it has been designated as a 'priority species' under Annex II of the Habitats Directive, which means areas in which it occurs can be declared Special Areas of Conservation, ''if'' these areas belong to one of the number of habitats listed in Annex I of the directive.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q657812 nebrodensis Endemic flora of Sicily Trees of Europe Critically endangered plants Critically endangered biota of Europe