Korea fir

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Korea fir
Korean fir (Abies koreana)

Korean fir ( Abies koreana )

Systematics
Order : Conifers (Coniferales)
Family : Pine family (Pinaceae)
Subfamily : Abietoideae
Genre : Firs ( Abies )
Section : Balsameae
Type : Korea fir
Scientific name
Abies koreana
EH Wilson

The Korean Fir ( Abies koreana ) is a plant from the genus of fir ( Abies ) in the family of Pinaceae (Pinaceae).

description

Habit in Jirisan Habitat , Korea
Branch with coniferous leaves
Male cones
Pollinable female cone
Ripe cones and winged seeds

Vegetative characteristics

The Korean fir grows as an evergreen tree . It forms a mostly broad, conical tree crown with branches that protrude horizontally in levels. It reaches heights of growth up to about 10 meters, sometimes up to 18 meters. The Korean fir is slow-growing with annual shoots of about 10 to 15 centimeters.

The bark of the trunk is shiny dark olive brown to black and speckled with lenticels . The bark of the twigs is tinted pale brown to gray-pink and slightly hairy. The egg-shaped buds are initially pale brown, later resinous and white.

The needle leaves are about 1 centimeter (sometimes up to 2.5 centimeters) long and 2 millimeters wide. At the end they are blunt, and rarely a little pointed. They are almost all around the branch and are densely arranged in a brush shape. Most needles stick out vertically, some are also bent back on the top and some are bent forward on the bottom. The needles are glossy dark green on top; on the underside they have two broad, bright white bands and therefore appear white.

Generative characteristics

The Korean fir is single sexed ( monoecious ), there are female and male cones on one specimen. The male cones are heaped between the needle leaves of the side shoots and are distributed over the entire treetop; they are 4 to 5 millimeters small and spherical; when they open they are about 1 inch long and light yellow.

The female cones attach to the branches above; they are 2 to 5 inches long and slender. The young female cones are initially yellowish-green, light pink or pale purple with retracted cover scales. The cones are always upright on the branch (in contrast to the hanging spruce cones that fall as a whole). The axis (spindle) of the tenon remains on the tree, while the scales fall off individually. The ripe cones are 5 to 7 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide. They are dark blue with protruding, strongly recurved cover scales, which with their yellow to brown coloring form a striking contrast to the dark blue basic color of the cones. The fully ripe cones turn dark purple to brown and are often very resinous. In contrast to most other types of fir, cones begin to form in abundance with plants that are less than 1 meter tall. The seeds are purple in color with reddish-brown tinted wings.

Chromosome number

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.

Occurrence

The Korean fir is native to Korea, including the southern offshore island of Jeju-do (formerly known as Quelpaert). It occurs at altitudes up to about 1000 meters.

Systematics and botanical history

The Korean fir was introduced to Great Britain in 1913 . The type material was collected in 1917 by EH Wilson in Hallai-San on the Korean island of Quelpaert and deposited with the collective number 9486. The first description of Abies koreana was made in 1920 by the Anglo-North American botanists and plant hunters Ernest Henry Wilson in Four new conifers from Korea. in the Journal of the Arnold Arboretum , Volume 1, p. 188.

Abies koreana belongs to the sub-section Medianae in the section Balsameae within the genus of firs ( Abies ).

use

In the temperate areas, the Korean fir is used as an ornamental plant in parks and gardens because of its attractive needling and the abundant cone production, which starts early. Location requirements: Sun to light shade; cool-damp; fresh to moist; acidic to slightly alkaline; nutrient-rich, sandy-loamy or loamy substrates ; sheltered from the wind. The Korean fir is frost hardy, but at risk of late frost .

A multitude of forms of selection has emerged. Selection goals are predominantly dwarfism and conspicuous needle color; The latter is achieved in many shapes by twisted needles that show their shiny silver-white undersides. In some forms, color variants of the cones have also been bred.

  • 'Aurea': Slow growing form with golden needles similar to 'Luminetta'. Often the leading instinct is missing; the growth is therefore often bush-shaped, sometimes tree-shaped.
  • 'Barabits Spreading': Very slow-growing, about 5 cm per year. Broad to hemispherical growth.
  • 'Black Prince': Very dark green needles; slow-growing, compact, conical habit.
  • 'Blaue Zwo', 'Blau Zwo': Upright, conical dwarf form; Growth 2 to 5 cm annually. Needles gray-blue.
  • 'Blauer Eskimo', 'Blue Eskimo': dwarf form that grows crawling close to the ground. Very slow growing.
  • 'Blue Whistle': Small tree with a broad, conical habit.
  • 'Blinsham Gold': growing flat in width; older plants grow more conically. Needle leaves golden yellow.
  • 'Blue and Silver'
  • 'Blue Emperor': compact growth habit; slow growing. The needles are bright blue.
  • 'Blue Magic': pyramidal growth; Needles light silvery blue.
  • 'Blue Standard': With dark purple cones
  • 'Blue Star': Intense blue needles.
  • 'Bonsai Blue': dwarf form with blue needles
  • 'Brevifolia': needles shorter than the type, cones smaller than the original form.
  • 'Cis': spherical dwarf form; 1 to 2 cm annual growth.
  • 'Compact Dwarf' (also 'Compacta', nana hort.): Compact dwarf form. 5 to 8 cm growth annually. Needles shorter than the type. Does not form cones.
  • 'Crystal Globe': dwarf form.
  • 'Dark Hill': dwarf form that becomes about 50 cm high.
  • 'Doni Tajuso': dwarf form
  • 'Flava': Female cones are yellow-brown when ripe.
  • 'Flying Saucer': Green, clearly silvery shimmering needles. Creeping growth, twisting branches
  • 'Frosty'
  • 'Gait': dwarf form. First spherical growth, later slender and upright; annual growth about 5 cm. Needles dark green.
  • 'Gelbbunt': Compact dwarf form with dark green, yellow-speckled needles
  • 'Glauca': shape with intense blue needles
  • 'Golden Glow': Compact dwarf form with yellow-orange needles
  • 'Golden Dream' ('Golden Dream'): Compact, shrubby form. Needles yellow to lime green; some needles two-colored (yellow and green)
  • 'Green Carpet': creeping dwarf form; annual growth about 5 cm. The needles are deep green in color.
  • 'Gruebele': spherical dwarf form
  • 'Hexenbesen Horstman', 'Hexenbesen Wursten': dwarf forms that resemble 'Silberlocke'.
  • 'Horstmann': A hemispherical dwarf form with an annual increase of around 2 cm
  • 'Horstmann's Silberlocke': See 'Silberlocke'
  • 'Inverleith'
  • 'Kohout': Dwarf form with twisted needles that show a lot of silvery color
  • 'Lippetal': Compact, somewhat irregularly growing dwarf form with very short needles
  • 'Luminetta': With gold-colored needles
  • 'Nana': Name for dwarf forms such as 'Compact Dwarf' and 'Prostrate Beauty'
  • 'Pincushion': Spherical to cushion-shaped growing with twisted needles that look silvery green.
  • 'Nanaimo': more compact growth than type, growth of average speed.
  • 'Nisbet': shrub-like growth; Needles pale green with a yellowish tone
  • 'Oberon': Extremely dwarfish with light green needles
  • 'Orange Glow': Low, broad-growing shape with dark gold-colored needles that turn more orange in winter.
  • 'Pancake': Flat growth that creeps on the ground (the name means "pancake" in German)
  • 'Piccolo': Dwarf form that has no central branch. Needles green.
  • 'Pinocchio': Very dense, hemispherical dwarf form; up to 5 cm annual growth. Deep green needles.
  • 'Pompom' ('Hexenbezen Wustemeyer'): Slow growing cultivated form with spherical growth; annual growth of around 4–5 cm. Needles light green. This form was created by W. Wustemeyer (Schermbeck, Germany) in 1980.
  • 'Procumbens': Another name for the form 'Taiga'.
  • 'Prostrata', 'Prostrate Beauty': irregular, broadly spreading growth that creeps to the ground; some twigs curve upwards. There are three known female clones with the cone colors blue, gray and green.
  • 'Renaults Dwarf': Compact dwarf form.
  • 'Silberkugel': dwarf shape that grows flattened hemispherical; denser growth than the 'silver curl' shape. The needles are only about 1 cm long. The needles are yellow-green with partially twisted needles showing their silvery undersides.
  • 'Silberlocke' ('Horstmann's Silberlocke'): Small shape with an annual increase of around 4 to 7 cm, often above. Forms purple cones early on. The needles are close together; they are twisted to different degrees and thus partially show their silvery undersides. This very beautiful shape was created before 1983 at the Horstmann tree nursery in Germany.
  • 'Silver Mavers': This very dwarf form has twisted needles that reveal their silvery undersides. The tops are blue-green.
  • 'Silberperl': This dwarf form has a flattened, spherical growth and is suitable for rock gardens. The needles are 6 to 12 millimeters long; they are green on the top, but twisted so that they show their silvery undersides. This shape was created at the Horstmann tree nursery in Germany before 1986.
  • 'Silver hoop': This form has faster growth than 'silver curl'. The needles are dark green and silvery on the underside, similar to the shape of 'silver curls'.
  • 'Silberzwerg': This broad-growing dwarf form has twisted needles that show their silvery underside.
  • 'Silberschmeltzer'
  • 'Silver Show': narrow, tree-shaped growth; this form reaches a height of 7 meters. The needles are similar to those of the 'silver curl' shape.
  • 'Starker's Dwarf' ('Stark's Dwarf'): This dwarf form becomes a little over a meter tall. Very dense, hemispherical growth.
  • 'Verdener Dom': A small shape with a narrow, conical growth. The needles are light green and thicker than the type.
  • 'Taiga': This shape stays low and grows in width. The needles are dark green. Blue cones are formed.
  • 'Threave'
  • 'True Blue': The needles of this shape are colored deep blue; they are deeper blue than the varieties 'Blauer Pfiff', 'Blaue Zwo' and 'Blue Star'.
  • 'Tundra': This dwarf form becomes about 40 cm high and about 60 cm wide.
  • 'Winter Gold Tip'
  • 'Wuestmeyer' ('Zwergform Wuestmeyer'): An upright growing dwarf form with needles that are tightly radial around the branch.

The Korean fir was also successfully crossed with the rocky mountain fir ( Abies lasiocarpa ). The shape 'tree line' is a cross between Abies koreana × Abies lasiocarpa 'Glauca'.

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literature

  • Alan Mitchell, translated and edited by Gerd Krüssmann: The forest and park trees of Europe: An identification book for dendrologists and nature lovers . Paul Parey, Hamburg and Berlin 1975, ISBN 3-490-05918-2 .

Single references

  1. ^ Tropicos. [1]
  2. ^ Alan Mitchell, translated and edited by Gerd Krüssmann: The forest and park trees of Europe: An identification book for dendrologists and nature lovers . Paul Parey, Hamburg and Berlin 1975, ISBN 3-490-05918-2 .
  3. ^ Abies koreana in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.

Web links

Commons : Korea Fir ( Abies koreana )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files