Abies Mill.
Genus comprised of 48 species with a Holarctic distribution. In North Africa it is represented by 2 species. Both form relict forests in the humid and cold mountains of the far N.
Arista, M., Alaoui, M.L., Knees, G.G. & Gardner, M.F. 2016. Abies pinsapo, from the website, Threatened Conifers of The World (http://threatenedconifers.rbge.org.uk/taxa/details/83).
Barbey, A. 1934. Une relique de la sapinière méditerranéenne, le Mont Babor. Monographie de l’Abiès numidica. París. Gembioux. 82 pp.
Baumer, M. 1977. Le Sapin du Maroc. Revue forestière française, 5: 343-354.
Ben-Said, M. 2022. The taxonomy of Moroccan fir Abies marocana (Pinaceae): conceptual clarifications from phylogenetic studies. Mediterranean Botany 43: 1-15.
Esteban, L.G., De Palacios, P. & Rodríguez-Losada, L. 2010. Abies pinsapo forests in Spain and Morocco: threats and conservation. Oryx 44(2): 276-284.
Ferrer-Gallego, P.P., Laguna, E. & Ferrer-Gallego, R. 2022. Nomenclatural notes on the Mediterranean firs (Abies, Pinaceae). Phytotaxa 549 (1): 031–050.
Knees, S.G. 2011. Phylogeny, Systematics and Conservation of Abies, especially those around the Mediterranean Basin. Reading. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Reading.
Sánchez Cózar, S.1946. El Abies del Tazaot. Revista de la Real Academia de Ciencias de Madrid, 50: 449-468.
Semerikova, S.A. & Semerikov, V.L. 2014. Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis of the Genus Abies (Pinaceae) based on the Nucleotide Sequence of Chloroplast DNA. Russian Journal of Genetics 50: 7-19.
Tang-Shui Liu, 1971. A Monograph of the genus Abies. Taipei.
Yahi, N., Knees, S.G. & Gardner, M.F. 2016. Abies numidica, from the website, Threatened Conifers of The World (http://threatenedconifers.rbge.org.uk/taxa/details/104).
Key to species
1 Leaves acute (often prickly) or obtuse, but never emarginate, 6-18 mm long, slightly twisted at the base, rigid, arranged around the branchlet, with the leaves and branchlets forming cylindrical clusters Abies marocana
1 Leaves obtuse (never prickly), often emarginate, 15-22 mm long, very twisted at the base, less rigid, arranged around the branchlet, forming a cluster of flattened appearance Abies numidica
Updated by: G. Benítez, J. Molero Mesa & J. Charco.