Nikko Fir

Plant Characteristics
Habit		tree
Height:	⇕	80 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 80.
Width:	⇔	25 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 25.
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial
Origin:	✈	Japan

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
Water:	◍	moist
Features:	✓	evergreen
USDA Zones:		5 to 9

Scientific Names
Pinaceae >	Abies >	homolepis >

Nikko Fir (Abies homolepis) is a fir native to the mountains of Japan. It grows at altitudes of 700-2,200 m, often in temperate rain forest with high rainfall and cool, humid summers, and heavy winter snowfall.

It is a medium-sized to large evergreen coniferous tree growing to 30-40 m tall with a trunk diameter of up to 1.5 m. The leaves are needle-like, flattened, 1.5-3.5 cm long and 2-3 mm wide by 0.5 mm thick, glossy green above, and with two white bands of stomata below, and rounded or slightly notched at the tip. The leaf arrangement is spiral on the shoot, but with each leaf variably twisted at the base so they lie partially flattened to either side of and above the shoot, with few below the shoot. The shoots are yellow-buff, glabrous, and often conspicuously grooved. The cones are 6-12 cm long and 3-4 cm broad, purple-blue before maturity; the scale bracts are short, and hidden in the closed cone. The winged seeds are released when the cones disintegrate at maturity about 6–7 months after pollination.

Abies homolepis - Nikko Fir. Native to Japan. Broad, dense and formal fir up to 80 feet in height. Densely arranged needles which point forward. Well suited to warm and moist areas.

More information about this species can be found on the genus page.