Abies vejarii Martínez

In some parts of our area Abies vejarii is probably the most commonly grown of the Mexican-Mesoamerican firs, thanks to a relatively high frequency of introductions. Described by Martínez in 1942 – who named it for Mexican Minister for Public Education Octavio Véjar Vázquez (Jacobson 1996) – this species comes from north east Mexico in the mountains of Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas states. It is unusual in the genus for having straight needle bases; not curved or twisted like in so many firs. Together with their short length, acute tips, and stomatal bands on both sides, the foliage renders this quite a distinctive species (pers. obs.). Like many Mexican trees it was first introduced to Britain in the 1960s, at a time when the Forestry Commission here was probably at its most experimental with regard to novel species. Bean (1976) gives 1964 for A. vejarii’s arrival, but Alan Mitchell said 1962 and added ‘plants [were] sent to several estates in South West England in 1965 and planted in small trials, and at Bedgebury and Westonbirt’ (Mitchell 1972). It arrived in North American collections at about the same time (Jacobson 1996).

The fate of these early plantings is largely unknown, but an original tree grew at Westonbirt until it had to be felled in 2015. The previous year it had been a ‘slender, spire shaped tree still growing fast’, 31 m × 0.53 m dbh (Tree Register 2021). Another original at Bedgebury was 19 m × 0.4 m dbh in 2015 but has since been removed due to infection with Neonectria canker (D. Luscombe pers. comm. 2021). A more recent introduction, KR 515, collected in 1984 and planted at Thenford House, Northamptonshire, in 1986, was ‘approximately 20 m (43 cm dbh) by 2006’ (Grimshaw & Bayton 2009) and 25 m × 64 cm dbh in 2019; it is now the largest known (Tree Register 2021). This impressive growth rate seems to be typical of the species both in the UK and Ireland and in appropriate zones in North America (Grimshaw & Bayton 2009), although a thriving example at Kew reported in New Trees, also from KR 515, had gone by 2020 (pers. obs.). Michael Frankis collected A. vejarii from 3180 m on Cerro Potosí in 1991 (Frankis 151) and plants descended from this collection grow at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and Tregrehan (Grimshaw & Bayton 2009).

Many young plants labelled A. vejarii have been planted in UK and Irish collections in recent years, ultimately traceable to Bedgebury National Pinetum. Some were distributed directly from Bedgebury; many others went via the National Trust’s Plant Conservation Centre. The result is a broad distribution of a relatively large number of plants, hence A. vejarii is a frequent sight in collections here in the early 2020s. However, a word of caution is required: all these trees are raised from cultivated seed, obtained from the original trees that grew at Bedgebury until quite recently. Although many appear genuine in youth, it seems highly likely that these will later show themselves to be hybrids. Those young trees that were planted at Bedgebury are already showing the (vegetative) influence of A. grandis (D. Luscombe pers. comm. 2021). Several known fir hybrids appear strongly like one parent in vegetative characters, but like the other in carpological characters (A. × umbellata and A. magnifica × procera are prime examples of this) and the cones of these young trees should be examined carefully when they are finally produced. As ever, the best way to multiply cultivated stock whilst ensuring genetic integrity is to graft known origin trees.