Abies fabri Seeds | Faber’s Fir
LATIN NAME: Abies fabri
COMMON NAME: Faber’s Fir
Plant Profile
Faber’s fir is a tall evergreen of thirty to forty metres with a straight trunk, dark green needles banded with white beneath, and upright cones that are deep blue-purple before they ripen to brown. It grows on the wet, misty mountains of western Sichuan, between two thousand and three thousand five hundred metres.
It is the fir of Mount Emei and of the Gongga range, where it forms the upper forest belt with birch and rhododendron, and it is one of the trees that gives the Chinese mountains their dark horizontal band. The timber is cut for construction and for pulp.
Science & Biotechnology
The cones sit upright on the shoot and the scales fall away at maturity, leaving a bare axis, which is the defining character of the firs. The purple colour of the young cone comes from anthocyanins in the scales and fades as the cone ripens; the same pigments appear in the young cones of many Abies species.
The species depends on cloud and on high rainfall, and it does not tolerate drought or heat. In the wild its seedlings establish in moss and in the shade of dwarf bamboo, and the species is one of those used in studies of the altitudinal treeline in south-west China, where the limit moves with grazing and with climate rather than with temperature alone. The species also shows a strong preference for north-facing slopes, where the cloud sits longer and the soil stays cool through the summer.
Uses & Benefits
The timber is light, straight-grained and resonant, and it goes into construction, into boxes and into the soundboards of instruments, though the stands are now protected and the trade is small. It is also used for pulp.
The tree is grown in a few arboreta in Europe and North America, where it is admired for its foliage and its purple cones but does not thrive in dry summers. In China the species is planted in mountain parks around Chengdu and in the grounds of temples. The tree is also planted in shelterbelts in the mountains of Sichuan, where its dense crown breaks the wind for the terraces below.
Growing from Seed
Sow seed in spring after eight weeks of cold, on the surface of a moist, acid mix, and keep it cool. Germination is slow and uneven, and the seedlings are prone to damping off in warm, still air.
Plant out in a cool, humid site with acid soil and shelter from drying wind, and mulch with leaf mould. The tree needs rain through the summer and it will not tolerate a dry season, which confines it to the wetter parts of a temperate garden. Do not plant it in a frost hollow, since late frost damages the new growth.
Our Take
A mountain fir for a wet, cool garden, and one that will fail in a dry summer whatever the soil. Grow it where the cloud comes down.
Related Reading
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