''Abies kawakamii'' is a species of conifer 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 cedars, firs, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces. The family is included in the order Pinales, formerly kn ...

. 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, ...

as a variety of '' Abies mariesii'', a high-mountain fir native to Japan; 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). 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'' var. ''formosana'', '' Tsuga formosana'', and '' Juniperus morrisonicola''. 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