Abies colimensis Rushforth & Narave

Tree 15–30 m tall, to 1 m dbh. Crown conical, columnar and round-topped in older trees. Bark of young trees smooth, silvery grey, fissuring and cracking into small reddish-brown or grey plates with age. First order branches relatively short, slender, horizontal, the tips upswept. Branchlets slender, firm, olive-green at first, ripening to (dark) reddish-brown, glabrous or with hairs in grooves on weak shoots. Vegetative buds small, globose-conical, 2–3 × 2–4 mm, with a dense covering of whitish resin. Leaves on sterile shoots strongly pectinate beneath shoots, 2–4(–5) cm × 1.5–2 mm, base adpressed, blades slightly tapering toward the apex, apex acute or obtuse, glaucous or pruinose green above, with two bluish-white stomatal bands below; upper surface grooved, sometimes with a few broken bands of stomata (leaves on fertile shoots not obviously grooved, and more stomatiferous above). Seed cones sessile, ovoid-oblong or barrel shaped with a blunt apex, 11–16 × 5.5–8 cm, green at first, soon yellow-green to pruinose- or bluish-green during development, ripening to bluish- or pruinose- or grey-brown; seed scales flabellate to cyanthiform, 3–3.2 × 3.3–3.8 cm at midcone; bracts prominently exserted and reflexed, yellow-green or pale green during cone development, pale brown at maturity, the apex obtuse with a short triangular cusp. (Rushforth 1989; Vázquez-García et al. 2014).

Distribution  Mexico Jalisco, in the Nevada de Colima

Habitat North and northeast facing mountain slopes at 2350–3150 m asl. At its lower altitudinal limit it occurs with Abies flinckii, Arbutus xalapensis, Pinus pseudostrobus, and species of Quercus and Ceanothus. Toward its upper altitudinal limit it begins to associate with Pinus hartwegii, together with Penstemon, Ribes, Salix, and Prunus species.

USDA Hardiness Zone 7-8

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

Conservation status Not evaluated (NE)