Abies cilicica

Abies cilicica, also known as Cilician fir[2] or Taurus fir, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found in Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey.[3] Abies cilicica and Cedrus libani, together with Acer hyrcanum subsp. tauricolum and Sorbus torminalis subsp. orientalis, are the predominant trees in the phytocoenosis Abeti-Cedrion, a type of forest of the middle and eastern Taurus Mountains of Turkey. These forests occur between 800 and 2,100 meters elevation. Over 5,000 years of logging, burning, and grazing have reduced these forests to enclaves.[4]

Abies cilicica
Cilica fir in north Lebanon
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Genus: Abies
Species:
A. cilicica
Binomial name
Abies cilicica
(Antoine & Kotschy) Carrière
Distribution

In 2009 at Berenice Troglodytica, the Egypto-Roman port on the Red Sea, archaeologists found: "two blocks of resin from the Syrian fir tree (Abies cilicica), one weighing about 190 g and the other about 339 g, recovered from 1st-century AD contexts in one of the harbour trenches. Produced in areas of greater Syria and Asia Minor, this resin and its oil derivative were used in mummification, as an antiseptic, a diuretic, to treat wrinkles, extract worms and promote hair growth."[5]

  • Abies cilicica in the Horsh Ehden reserve, Lebanon
  • Abies cillicica cones
  • Abies cilicica, close-up

Footnotes
  1. Gardner, M. & Knees, S. (2013). "Abies cilicica". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T42275A2968944. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42275A2968944.en.
  2. "BSBI List 2007". Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-01-25. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  3. Alizoti, P.G.; Fady, B.; Prada, M.A.; Vendramin, G.G. "Mediterranean firs - Abies spp." (PDF). EUFORGEN Technical Guidelines for Conservation and Use.
  4. Boydak, M. "Reforestation of Lebanon cedar (Cedrus libani A. Rich.) in bare karstic lands by broadcast seeding in Turkey." In : Leone V. (ed.), Lovreglio R. (ed.). Proceedings of the international workshop MEDPINE 3: conservation, regeneration and restoration of Mediterranean pines and their ecosystems. Bari : CIHEAM, 2007. p. 33-42 (Options Méditerranéennes : Série A. Séminaires Méditerranéens; n. 75)


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