Sicilian Fir

Sicilian Fir (Abies nebrodensis) is a fir native to the Monti Nebrodi mountains in northern Sicily. It is a medium-size evergreen coniferous tree growing to 15-25 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 1 m. It occurs at altitudes of 1400-1,600 m. As a result of deforestation it is now extremely rare, with only 21 mature trees surviving; replanting programmes are meeting with limited success due to heavy grazing pressure by livestock belonging to local farmers.

The leaves are needle-like, flattened, 1.5-2.5 cm long and 2 mm wide by 0.5 mm thick, glossy dark green above, and with two greenish-white bands of stomata below. The tip of the leaf is blunt with a notched tip, but sometimes with a pointed tip, particularly on shoots high on older trees. The cones are 10-16 cm long and 4 cm broad, with about 150 scales, each scale with an exserted bract and two winged seeds; they disintegrate when mature to release the seeds.

It is closely related to Silver Fir A. alba, which replaces it in the Apennine Mountains of Italy and elswhere further north in Europe; some botanists treat Sicilian Fir as a variety of Silver Fir, as Abies alba var. nebrodensis.