Where does Nordmann fir (the Christmas tree) come from?
The Nordmann fir comes from the mountains around the eastern Black Sea, in north-east Turkey, Georgia and the Russian Caucasus. This tall wild conifer has become one of the most important Christmas trees in Europe.
A giant of the Caucasus forests
The Nordmann fir grows wild at about 900 to 2,200 metres, on wet mountains with more than 1,000 mm of rain a year. It is a big evergreen, up to 55 to 61 metres tall, found in pure stands or mixed with oriental spruce, beech and rhododendron. Its present range follows forest refuges that survived the Ice Age along the eastern and southern Black Sea coast. In Turkish it is the Doğu Karadeniz göknarı, the 'eastern Black Sea fir'; a related form, the Turkish fir, grows farther west.
Named after a Finnish naturalist
The tree honours Alexander von Nordmann (1803–1866), a Finnish zoologist. In 1834 he became director of the botanical garden in Odessa, and he collected natural history specimens on expeditions across southern Russia and neighbouring regions. The specimen that defines the species was collected by Nordmann in the Caucasus mountains, at the 'source of the Kur River'. His fellow Finn Christian von Steven named the fir after him. Nordmann later became professor of zoology and botany in Finland.
Why people think of Scandinavia
The name sounds Scandinavian, and Danish companies are among those that harvest its seed. But much of the seed still comes from the wild forests of the Caucasus. Every year, villagers in the Racha region of Georgia climb more than 30 metres into the crowns of wild firs to pick the cones, which are trucked to nurseries across Europe; growers believe wild seed makes better trees. Of some 75 million Christmas trees produced in Europe each year, the Danish Christmas Tree Association has said, around 60% are Nordmann firs.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org › Abies nordmanniana ↗ · en.wikipedia.org › Alexander von Nordmann ↗ · conifers.org ↗ · nationalgeographic.com ↗
.jpg/330px-Anthurim_(9971924733).jpg)
.jpg/330px-Schlumbergera_%C3%97_buckleyi_(16946879165).jpg)
.jpg/330px-IMG_2973_%E5%8D%95%E5%B3%B0%E9%A9%BC_(38263873691).jpg)
.jpg/330px-Concert_crowd_(Unsplash).jpg)
