''Abies religiosa'', the oyamel fir or sacred fir, (known as in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

) is a fir native to the

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

s of central and southern

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 ...

(

Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt ( es, Eje Volcánico Transversal), also known as the Transvolcanic Belt and locally as the (''Snowy Mountain Range''), is an active volcanic belt that covers central-southern Mexico. Several of its highest peaks h ...

, Sierra Madre del Sur) and western Guatemala. It grows at high altitudes of in cloud forests with cool, humid summers and dry winters in most of its habitat regime. In the state of

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

, it grows with precipitation all year long. The tree is resistant to regular winter snowfalls.

Names

The Spanish name comes from the Nahuatl word ''oyametl'' (''oya'', "to

thresh Thresh may refer to: *Threshing, in agriculture **Threshing machine * A minor character in the novel ''The Hunger Games'' and its film adaptation *Thresh (gamer) Dennis Fong (), better known by his online alias Thresh, is an American businessm ...

"; ''metl'', "

agave ''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the hot and arid regions of the Americas and the Caribbean, although some ''Agave'' species are also native to tropical areas of North America, such as Mexico. The genus is primarily known for ...

"; literally "threshing agave"). It is also called ( Christmas tree) in Mexico. The English name derives from the binomial ''Abies religiosa'', literally "religious fir". This comes from the use of its cut foliage in religious festivals (notably at Christmas) and in churches in Mexico.

Description

''Abies religiosa'' is a medium-sized to large

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

coniferous

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 tall with a trunk diameter of up to . The leaves are needle-like, flattened, long and wide by thick, dark green above, and with two blue-white bands of stomata below; the leaf apex is acute. The leaf arrangement is spiral on the shoot, but with each leaf variably twisted at the base so they lie flat to either side of and above the shoot, with none below the shoot. The shoots are reddish-brown, hairless or with scattered

pubescence Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy. I ...

. 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 long and broad, dark blue-purple before maturity; the scale bracts are purple or greenish, of moderate length, with the tips exposed in the closed cone. The winged

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s are released when the cones disintegrate at maturity about 7–9 months after

pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...

. Trees from the western end of the range on

Nevado de Colima Nevado (1813? – 1821) was a Mucuchies dog that was given to Simón Bolívar by the local people of Mucuchíes, Mérida, in the Venezuelan Andes. It was given as a kind of present shortly after the Battle of Niquitao during his triumphal A ...

, Jalisco have cones with larger, reflexed bract scales (similar to

noble fir ''Abies procera'', the noble fir, also called red fir and Christmas tree, is a species of fir native to the Cascade Range and Pacific Coast Ranges of the northwestern Pacific Coast of the United States. It occurs at altitudes of . Description ' ...

cones); these are sometimes treated as a separate species, ''Abies colimensis''.

Significance

The sacred fir is the preferred tree for the monarch butterfly (''Danaus plexippus'') to reside in colonies during its hibernation in the forests of the

. Although monarch butterflies are known in other parts of the southern Mexican highlands as some specimens do not migrate, the bulk of them gather in a few protected fir forests in the

Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve ( es, Reserva de Biosfera de la Mariposa Monarca) is a World Heritage Site containing most of the over-wintering sites of the eastern population of the monarch butterfly. The reserve is located in the Tran ...

near the towns of

Angangueo Angangueo () is a municipality located in far eastern Michoacán state in central Mexico noted for its history of mining and its location in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. The municipal seat is the Mineral de Angangueo. It is located in ...

( Michoacán) and Avándaro ( State of Mexico), from December to March. The wood of the sacred fir is rather soft and thus not very suited for

woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first mate ...

. Nonetheless, its distribution is decreasing because of logging for fuel and other human-related disturbances. A 2012 paper by Cuauhtemoc Saenz-Romero among others, published in ''Forest Ecology and Management'' found that "the area suitable for the oyamel is likely to diminish by 96 percent by 2090, and disappear completely within the onarch Butterfly Biospherereserve."

Gallery

References

*Liu, T. S. (11 November 1971). ''A Monograph of the genus Abies''. National Taiwan University. {{Taxonbar, from=Q378592 religiosa Plants described in 1830 Trees of Durango Trees of Guerrero Trees of Hidalgo (state) Trees of Jalisco Trees of the State of Mexico Trees of Michoacán Trees of Morelos Trees of Puebla Trees of Veracruz Flora of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt Trees of temperate climates Least concern plants Trees of Guatemala Flora of the Sierra Madre del Sur