''Abies kawakamii'' 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, ...

. It is found only in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. First described in 1908 by

Bunzō Hayata was a Japanese botanist noted for his taxonomic work in Japan and Formosa, present day Taiwan. Early life Hayata was born to a devout Buddhist family in Kamo, Niigata on December 2, 1874. When he was 16, Hayata became interested in botany, and ...

as a variety of ''

Abies mariesii ''Abies mariesii'' (Maries' fir, in Japanese, オオシラビソ or アオモリトドマツ, Ōshirabiso, or Aomoritodomatsu) is a fir native to the mountains of central and northern Honshū, Japan. It grows at altitudes of 750–1,900 m in n ...

'', a high-mountain fir native to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

; the next year it was elevated to species rank by Tokutarô Itô. ''Abies kawakamii'' is exclusively native to the island of

, and is one of the southernmost true firs (together with '' A. fansipanensis'', native to

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 ...

, and '' A. guatemalensis'', from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

). It is a high-mountain species occurring in northern and central Taiwan at elevations between 2400 and 3800 m in association with other temperate plants, dominantly conifers, including ''

Juniperus formosana ''Juniperus formosana'', the Formosan juniper, is a species of conifer in the family Cupressaceae. It is a shrub or tree to tall, found in China (from Tibet in the west to Zhejiang in the east) and in Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republ ...

'' var. ''formosana'', '' Tsuga formosana'', and ''

Juniperus morrisonicola Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arc ...

''. Taiwan fir is a small to medium-sized tree sometimes reaching a height of 35 m and trunk diameter of 1 m. Initially, the bark is scurfy or scaly, lenticellate, later detaching in elongated plates. The branchlets are yellowish-brown when mature, furrowed, hairy. The needles are 1–2.8 cm long, pruinose, with stoma-lines above and 2 stomatal bands below. It has rather small cones 5–7.5 cm long, cylindrical or conical-cylindrical, dark blue, with included bracts.

References

kawakamii Endemic flora of Taiwan Trees of Taiwan Near threatened flora of Asia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Plants described in 1908 {{conifer-stub