Abies insignis

Abies insignis Carr. ex Bailly
Rev. Hort. (Paris) Vol 62, p. 230. (1890)

Cited at Monserrate 1870, "Abies insignis, only 9 years old, but 50 feet in height", this name was first published in 1890, but refers to a hybrid fir raised by the French nurseryman Renault at Bulnéville (Vosges) France around 1850.

Sur l'"Abies insignis" (Carrière), hybride naturel supposé des "Abies Pinsapo" et "Nordmanniana",
communication faite à la Société d'horticulture d'Orléans et du Loiret, séance du 5 mars 1893
Dr Émile Bailly de Château-du-Loir
Published by impr. de P. Pigelet, 1894

THE TREES OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND Vol IV, 1909, p.733
Henry John Elwes

This hybrid was obtained or 1849 in the nursery of M. Renault at Bulgnéville in the Vosges. A branch of A. Pinsapo was grafted on a stock of the common silver fir (A. pectinata) ; and after some years the grafted plant produced cones. Seeds from these were sown ; and of the seedlings raised one-half were like A. Pinsapo, the remainder being intermediate in character, it was supposed, between A. Pinsapo and A. pectinata ; and the variation was considered to be the result of graft hybridisation. However, at no great distance there was growing a tree of A. Nordmanniana ; and it is more probable that the hybrid character of the seedlings was the result of a cross from A. Pinsapo fertilised by the pollen of A. Nordmanniana. A complete account of these seedlings is given by M. Bailly.


Described by Pieter den Ouden in his Manual of Cultivated Conifers as a fast growing tree, 30m; crown broadly pyramidal

Abies nordmanniana x Abies pinsapo.

There are several cultivars recorded

'Andreana' Mottett in Rev. Hort 1902 : 163 = A. insignis var. andreana (Mottet) Rehd. in J.A.A. 1: 54 (1919)
'Beissneriana'