Abies cephalonica

Botanical Description

Abies cephalonica is an evergreen tree with a narrow, conical crown; it can grow 40 metres or more tall with a straight, cylindrical bole[ 11 Title Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Publication Author Bean. W. Publisher Murray Year 1981 ISBN - Description A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures. ]. The tree is harvested from the wild for local use of its wood and has sometimes been cultivated as a timber tree[ 50 Title Flora Europaea Publication Author ? Publisher Cambridge University Press Year 1964 ISBN - Description An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for Europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader. ]. Although a decrease in the population of this species has been reported during the last five decades, latterly mainly due to summer wild-fires, nevertheless the species has a widespread distribution in Greece. It is recorded from 11 main locations and typically most of these contain extensive stands. Even though it is highly likely that there will be further loss of forest, especially as a result of summer wild-fires, it is thought that this will not be sufficient to warrant the species to be assessed against a category of threat in the foreseeable future. The plant is classified as 'Least Concern' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2013)[ 338 Title IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Publication Author Website http://www.iucnredlist.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat. ].