{{Short description|Species of conifer}}{{Speciesbox| name =| image = Abies religiosa, Parque Nacional El Chico, Hidalgo, Mexico 1.jpg| image_caption = Sacred fir forest at El Chico National Park in Hidalgo, Mexico| status = LC| status_system = IUCN3.1

TITLE=ABIES RELIGIOSA

PAGE=E.T39592A2929657

ACCESS-DATE=19 NOVEMBER 2021, | genus = Abies| species = religiosa

Carl Sigismund Kunth>Kunth) Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal

& Adelbert von Chamisso>Cham.{{GRIN | accessdate=2009-10-22}}| synonyms = *Abies colimensis Rushforth & Narave F., H.

Abies glauca Roezl ex Gordon
Abies glaucescens Roezl
Abies hirtella (Kunth) Lindl.
Abies religiosa subsp. colimensis (Rushforth & Narave) Silba
Abies religiosa var. colimensis (Rushforth & Narave) Silba
Abies religiosa subsp. glaucescens (Roezl) Silba
Abies religiosa var. glaucescens CarriÃ¨re
Abies religiosa var. hirtella (Kunth) CarriÃ¨re
Abies religiosa var. lindleyana CarriÃ¨re
Abies religiosa subsp. perotensis (Silba) Silba
Abies religiosa var. perotensis Silba
Abies tlapalcatuda Roezl
Picea glaucescens (Roezl) Gordon
Picea hirtella (Kunth) Loudon
Picea religiosa (Kunth) Loudon
Pinus hirtella Kunth
Pinus religiosa Kunth
Pinus religiosa var. minor Parl.| synonyms_ref =The Plant List

}}Abies religiosa, the oyamel fir or sacred fir,{{EOL}} (known as in Spanish) is a fir native to the mountains of central and southern Mexico (Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, Sierra Madre del Sur) and western Guatemala. It grows at high elevations of {{convert|2100|-|4100|m|ft}} in cloud forests with cool, humid summers and dry winters in most of its habitat regime. In the state of Veracruz, it grows with precipitation all year long. The tree is resistant to regular winter snowfalls.

Names

The Spanish name {{wikt-lang|es|oyamel}} comes from the Nahuatl word oyametl (oya, "to thresh"; metl, "agave"; literally "threshing agave"). It is also called (Christmas tree) in Mexico. The English name derives from the binomial Abies (wikt:religiosus#Latin|religiosa), literally "religious fir". This comes from the use of its cut foliage in religious festivals (notably at Christmas) and in churches in Mexico.BOOK, Timbers of the New World,weblink 1943, Arno Press, 13, 9780405028069, The specific epithet (religiosa) refers to the common use of the evergreen branches for decorations in churches.,

Description

Abies religiosa is a medium-sized to large evergreen coniferous tree growing to {{convert|25|-|50|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall with a trunk diameter of up to {{convert|2|m|ft}}. The leaves are needle-like, flattened, {{convert|1.5|-|3.5|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|1.5|mm|in|abbr=on}} wide by {{convert|0.5|mm|in|abbr=on}} thick, dark green above, and with two blue-white bands of stomata below; the leaf apex is acute. The leaf arrangement is spiral on the shoot, but with each leaf variably twisted at the base so they lie flat to either side of and above the shoot, with none below the shoot. The shoots are reddish-brown, hairless or with scattered pubescence.The cones are {{convert|8|-|16|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|4|-|6|cm|in|abbr=on}} broad, dark blue-purple before maturity; the scale bracts are purple or greenish, of moderate length, with the tips exposed in the closed cone. The winged seeds are released when the cones disintegrate at maturity about 7â€“9 months after pollination. Trees from the western end of the range on Nevado de Colima, Jalisco have cones with larger, reflexed bract scales (similar to noble fir cones); these are sometimes treated as a separate species, Abies colimensis.

Significance

The sacred fir is the preferred tree for the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) to reside in colonies during its hibernation in the forests of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Although monarch butterflies are known in other parts of the southern Mexican highlands as some specimens do not migrate, the bulk of them gather in a few protected fir forests in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve near the towns of Angangueo (MichoacÃ¡n) and AvÃ¡ndaro (State of Mexico), from December to March.The wood of the sacred fir is rather soft and thus not very suited for woodworking. Nonetheless, its distribution is decreasing because of logging for fuel and other human-related disturbances.WEB,weblink Oyamel (Abies religiosa), CONABIO, 2016-08-30, {{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}A 2012 paper by Cuauhtemoc Saenz-Romero among others, published in Forest Ecology and Management found that "the area suitable for the oyamel is likely to diminish by 96 percent by 2090, and disappear completely within the [Monarch Butterfly Biosphere] reserve."NEWS, Mexican scientists move forest to save butterflies,weblink Linthicum, Kate, Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2019, January 5, 2020, JOURNAL, Forest Ecology and Management, 333, 1 December 2014, 76â€“87, The role of forest genetic resources in responding to biotic and abiotic factors in the context of anthropogenic climate change

author2=Bruno Fady, Giovanni Giuseppe Vendramin, Ian K. Dawson, Richard A. Fleming, CuauhtÃ©moc SÃ¡enz-Romero, Roberto A. Lindig-Cisneros, Trevor Murdock, Barbara Vinceti, Carlos Manuel Navarro, Tore SkrÃ¸ppa, Giulia Baldinelli, Yousry A. El-Kassaby, Judy Loo

doi-access=free,

Gallery

{{Gallery|title=

height=170|align=center|footer=|File:Oyamel.jpg

|alt1=Detail of leaves and male cones
|Detail of leaves and male cones|
|alt2=Dead leaves sample
|Dead leaves sample|File:Abies religiosa Chincua 1.jpg
|alt3=At Chincua monarch butterfly sanctuary
| Chincua sanctuary, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve|File:Abies religiosa El Rosario 5.jpg
|alt4=At El Rosario monarch butterfly sanctuary
| El Rosario sanctuary, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve|File:Cuajimoloyas, Sierra Norte de Oaxaca.jpg
|alt5=In the Sierra Norte, Oaxaca
|In the Sierra Norte, Oaxaca|File:La Malinche Wald.JPG
|alt6=Firs in zacantonal plant community on the trail of La Malinche
|Firs and zacatonal plant community on the trail of La Malinche, Tlaxcala|File:Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus) on Oyamel fir (Abies religiosa) Piedra Herrada.jpg
|alt7=Piedra Herrada, Mexico
|Piedra Herrada butterfly sanctuary, Mexico

}}

References

Liu, T. S. (11 November 1971). A Monograph of the genus Abies. National Taiwan University.

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