Abies firma; momi fir

Japanese: モミ(樅) - モミ（英語表記）Abies firma; momi fir

A large evergreen tree of the pine family, endemic to Japan, grows in the mountains and low mountains of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu south of Iwate Prefecture. The trunk grows upright, reaching a height of 30-50m, with thick, almost horizontal branches. The bark is dark gray and bald in scales. The leaves are linear and arranged pinnately on the branches, and the leaves of young trees have sharp bifurcated tips. Monoecious. Blooms around June, with male flowers growing in the axils of the previous year's leaves, cylindrical and yellow, while female flowers are egg-shaped, oblong, green, and upward-facing. The cones are upright and cylindrical, and when ripe, the pieces fall from the axis. The seeds are obovate, wedge-shaped, and have wings twice as long as the original. Also called a pupa, its old names being momunoki and ominoki. It is also planted in gardens, and its wood is used for building, ship materials, machinery, and paper pulp. In subalpine coniferous forests, there is Abies salicina, which is similar to this species and has particularly white undersides of leaves. The tips of the leaves only have shallow depressions and do not split like fir leaves.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

マツ科の常緑大高木，日本の特産種で，岩手県より南の本州と四国，九州の山地または低山に生える。幹の高さ 30～50mに達し直立し，枝は太くほぼ水平に出る。樹皮は暗灰色で鱗状にはげる。葉は線形で枝に羽状に並び，若木の葉は先端が鋭く2裂する。雌雄同株。6月頃に開花し，雄花は前年の葉腋に生じ円柱形で黄色，雌花は卵状長楕円形緑色で上向きにつく。球果は直立した円柱形で，熟すると果片は果軸から落ちる。種子は倒卵状楔形で2倍の長さの翼をもつ。サナギともいい，古名をモムノキ，オミノキという。庭園にも植えられ，また材は建築，船材，機械材および製紙パルプの原料に用いられる。亜高山帯の針葉樹林には本種に似て，葉の裏面が特に白いウラジロモミがある。葉の先端は浅いくぼみだけでモミのように裂けない。

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