Sicilian fir, Abies nebrodensis
20th Century • Italy
"There are so few wild or cultivated specimens of this beautiful fir that accurate descriptions are hard to find."
- Washington Park Arboretum bulletin, 1990 The Sicilian fir, Abies nebrodensis, grows in the Madoni Range of northern Sicily. Once widely distributed and used regularly for lumber in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was thought to be extinct until a small population was found in 1957. As of 2001 there were only 29 known adult individuals in the wild.
Vendramin, Giovanni G., et al. "Genetic variation in Abies nebrodensis: a case study for a highly endangered species." Forest Genetics 2.3 (1995): 171-175. | Debreczy, Z. & Rácz, I. (2011) Conifers Around the World 1-2 1089, DendroPress Ltd., Budapest | Parducci, L., Szmidt, A., Madaghiele, A. et al. Genetic variation at chloroplast microsatellites (cpSSRs) in Abies nebrodensis (Lojac.) Mattei and three neighboring Abies species. Theor Appl Genet 102, 733–740 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s001220051704
Abies nebrodensis, Castellana Sicula, Madonie, Sicily, 1600 m altitude. Carlo Columba, via Flickr CC2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
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