To see the Spanish fir tree (Abies Pinsapo) in its native range one has to go to a rather small area of the "Sierra de las Nieves" mountains in Southern Spain not too far from the city of Ronda. I have been to one of the three remaining forests of these trees located near the small town of Yunquera. I took these pictures while hiking through the forest last year.
The image above is of the bright red pollen cones that are about the size of berries. The "leaves" of the are short, fairly thick and quite stiff. They remind me of some hair brushes that I have seen.
The Abies Pinsapo is a very conical tree until it gets up in years at which time it tends to become quite irregular in shape and often develops several main trunks. A good example of this is the champion tree of this species called the "Pinsapo de la Escalereta".
Another fir tree species that can be found in Spain is the Nordmann Fir.
2 comments:
I was so delighted to see this Spanish Fir, I purchased a 3ft. Spanish Fir my son picked out for our garden and didn't know the name until I Googled it. Being of Spanish decent, I was doubly delighted when I saw your picture of one, sadly I didn't see one when I visited some three years ago. Anne
really good post - thank you.
I have a Spanish Fir in the garden - didn't know what it was until I found this post. It had an accident when young (and several since) so it grows in all directions except upwards! but I love it because it is obviously a 'fighter' and won't give up. This year it produced its red cones for the first time - so it was quite a surprise - hence me looking for identification on the web. Thanks again.
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