Abies delavayi

Abies delavayi, the Delavay's fir, is an evergreen coniferous tree in the family Pinaceae, order Pinales, native to the high mountain forests of southwestern China and adjacent northern Myanmar, where it grows at elevations between 3,000 and 4,300 metres in subalpine and alpine conifer communities. The species is named in honour of the French missionary and naturalist Jean Marie Delavay, who collected extensively in Yunnan Province during the late 19th century and contributed enormously to the botanical knowledge of this floristically rich region. Abies delavayi grows to 20 to 40 metres in height with a narrowly pyramidal crown. One of the species' most distinctive features is its seed cones, which are among the darkest of any fir, being a striking deep violet-blue to nearly black when young, cylindrical, and erect, turning brownish at maturity before disintegrating on the tree. The needles are dark green and glossy on the upper surface, with two conspicuous white stomatal bands on the lower surface, arranged in dense comb-like rows that bend upward toward the ends of the branchlets. Abies delavayi forms important subalpine forest ecosystems in western China and Myanmar, growing alongside species such as Picea and Larix at the upper tree line. Several varieties have been recognized within this species complex. The high-altitude forests inhabited by this species are considered repositories of high biodiversity and are subject to increasing pressures from climate change-driven shifts in vegetation zones.