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davidrt28

thoughts on Abies nebrodensis X umbellata - a true hybrid or not?

davidrt28 (zone 7)
12 years ago

http://www.stanleyandsons.com/productDisplay.cfm?product=ABS%201550

Is there any record of it besides catalogs of Gee & Arrowhead Alpines? (who presumably get it from Gee) Stanley's comment implies they did not make the cross. It's not one of the old European hybrids like the tongue twister Abies X vasconcellosiana, that appear in some references.

I tried to "type it out" to the degree you can with a small plant. The only headway I could make was that A. nebrodensis is described as "blunt", A. umbellata/A. homolepsis as "sharp pointed". These needles don't appear pointed but a sharp tip can definitely be felt. The closest to the Japanese species I have is A. firma, which is visible pointed. (and actually double pointed if you look closely enough) So the intermediate character of this would at least not discourage the conclusion that it is a hybrid.

Here's a close up view (clickable because it's big, but you have to click again on the page this opens to see the full version):

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Uploaded with ImageShack.us

My plant came from Gee. It is no doubt not on a rootstock that would work for me (i.e., either A. firma or A. nordmanniana) so I will have to coddle it and one day re-graft it myself. I think it's been started here previously that Gee graft on A. balsamea or A. concolor? I keep forgetting to call them.

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