B. Papp szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 34. 2003 (Budapest, 2003)

Debreczy, Zsolt; Rácz, István: A re-assessment of the new taxa of firs (Abies Mill.) reported from Mexico in 1995

deed the character of exserted bract may randomly appear in quite a wide range of fir species, which typically have included bracts (i.e. A. cilicica, A. numidica, A. balsamea, etc.). If, however, it appears regionally, it may deserve a variety rank simply to get a clearer indication regarding the plant we may expect. Lumping them, again, is not indeed helpful before making a larger population study and convincing evidence that the "exserted" and "included" bract, recurved leaf margin etc. in these species (even if regionally typical) have no taxonomic value. Abies lowiana var. viridula is the only record of A. lowiana in Mexico. The "continental A. grandis" has not been distinguished earlier from A. concolor in Mexico. Although foliage colour in general is not an important character, this variety was quite unique with the uniform green colour contrasting the grey hue of the northern types. While accepting the different views in taxonomy, the good in both the conception of lumpers and splitters, we feel that we have to redraw the botanists' attention to the species noted and described by us for two reasons: because they are completely different than those they were lumped with and because lumping them may harm conservation goals. A taxon which is a good species or marked variety can be saved if recognised on the proper level, while it may become extinct before saving its genotype, simply because it was considered unjustly the same as another one. The difference i.e. between A. neodurangensis and A. durangensis is as marked as, for instance, that of A. grandis and A. magnified. The small population of A. neodurangensis in the Sierra Madre Occidental near the border regions of Sinaloa and Durango states, as far as we know, is critically endangered. Abies zapotekensis which was found very similar to the (widely accepted; also in FARJON 1998) A. hidalgensis grows in a hidden valley of Oaxaca east of Ixtlan de Juarez in a transitional oak-pine/cloud-forest region among scattered specimens of A. hickelii. It differs from A. guatemalensis at least in the scale of A. grandis and A. lowiana and, as described below, has twice as many (4) resin canals as the Guatemalan Fir. The original descriptions of the new Abies taxa found in Mexico (the text is complemented here with 38 new images and reference captions) For a long time (since 1932), only Abies hickelii Flous et Guussen, a species of southern Mexico, was known to have more than two (typically 8-12) resin canals in its leaves (A. oaxacana Martinez is treated here as a synonymous with A. hickelii). A new species was found in the montane "cloud forest" region of Hidalgo (Abies hidalgensis Debreczy, Rácz et Guízar, see below) with (typically 4-5) up to