''Abies squamata'', known as the Flaky Fir , is a species of

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

in the family

Pinaceae The Pinaceae (), or pine family, are conifer trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as Cedrus, cedars, firs, Tsuga, hemlocks, Pinyon_pine, piñons, larches, pines and spruces. The family is incl ...

. This fir is common in the Southeast of the

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or Qingzang Plateau, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central Asia, Central, South Asia, South, and East Asia. Geographically, it is located to the north of H ...

(

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

) in an altitude from 3200 m to tree-line in 4400 m. It is dominant on North-facing slopes and often grows with Balfour's spruce, ''Picea balfouriana''. Government sector logging that was rampant until the logging ban in 1998 reduced fir stands significantly. Reforestation after the ban was dominated by spruce, since ''Abies squamata'' is susceptible to stem rot and thus shunned by the state forest bureaus (Ryavec & Winkler 2009). Undergrowth is most commonly dominated by members of the genus ''

Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

''. Local Tibetans know this fir as "bollo", but that term is a general term for firs and spruces.

References

* Ryavec, Karl & Winkler, Daniel 2009. Logging Impacts to Forests in Tibetan Areas of Southwest China. A Case Study from Ganze Prefecture Based on 1998 Landsat TM Imagery. In: Himalaya - Journal of the Association for Nepal & Himalayan Studies 2006, vol. 26.1: 38–45. link: http://mushroaming.com/sites/default/files/Ryavec%20Winkler%203-2009.pdf

squamata Squamata (, Latin ''squamatus'', 'scaly, having scales') is the largest Order (biology), order of reptiles; most members of which are commonly known as Lizard, lizards, with the group also including Snake, snakes. With over 11,991 species, it i ...

Trees of China Flora of Sichuan Flora of Tibet Vulnerable flora of Asia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{conifer-stub