Abies pinsapo - click image to enlarge
Maymont Foundation Gardens, Richmond, Virginia USA. September 2003. This breathtaking tree was given decades to develop on a large estate lawn facing the river. Most importantly it was not "limbed up" to accomodate quick and easy lawn care. Nor was it forced to have just one leader. Firs need to trail and sprawl as The Creator intended. Century old cedars of lebanon surround it. To it's left is a 30 foot tall and remarkable example of Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Tetragona Aurea', easily the finest example of that cultivar in the US, and a nice contrast for the bluish firs.

Abies pinsapo 'Aurea'
ha: slower, often a low, rambling shrub unless highly trained. It is small enough for
ha: most small gardens and dwarf conifer collections. It is also used in larger rock gardens. It
ha: can be staked and pruned to develop a neat, conical form typical of the firs.
lc: bright golden-yellow overall, new growth brightest, old needles cream above. Older foliage is greener.
eval: probably the most popular cultivar in gardens today
or: Seneclauze Nursery, France before 1868

Abies pinsapo 'Aurea Nana'
ha: dwarf
lc: yellow
ns: a listed name of doubtful validity in Latin form. Kenwith Nursery UK has listed it in 2001.

Abies pinsapo 'Clarke'
ht: 1m tall (20 years) - original tree
ha: true dwarf, very slow
or: W.B. Clarke, San Jose, CA USA as seedling c. 1948

Abies pinsapo 'Fastigiata'
ha: densely columnar, branches shorter
or: Seneclauze Nursery, France before 1868

Abies pinsapo 'Glauca'
ha: full-sized, vigorous, some plants are more uniformly branched and tiered than seedlings.
lc: foliage more glaucous blue, very pruinose (waxy and white)
lt: foliage is more radial than in some species seedlings
frc: male cones are red and contrast nicely with the blue foliage
prop: seedlings of it come true in part just as with glaucous strains of other
prop: conifers, glaucescence being a common and variable genetic trait in
prop: most species.
eval: grafted trees traced to old arboreta (and presumably the true French clone) are best.
or: Desfosse & Thullier Nur., Orleans, France before 1867.

Abies pinsapo 'Hamondii' ('Hammondii')
ha: dwarf, spreading, very short trunk, growth about 6 inches a year
ll: smaller than species typical
or: W.P. Hamond, UK before 1881. It is therefore spelled with just the one "m".

Abies pinsapo var. hispanica = species

Abies pinsapo 'Horstmann' ('Horstmann Nana')
ha: dwarf, dense, very short branches, growing 4 inches a year
lc: blue-grey, colored much like 'Glauca'
or: Horstmann Nursery, Germany c. 1986
ns: it is not related to A. koreana 'Horstmann' and needs a new name.

Abies pinsapo 'Kelleriis' ('Keller', 'Kelleris')
ha: dwarf or compact. Stanley & Sons in the US says their plant is "very fast grower like species".
lc: blue-green
or: D.T. Poulsen, Kelleriis, Denmark c. 1925
in: Jeddeloph Nursery 1972

Abies pinsapo 'Kelleriis Glauca' provisional name
ns: a listed name that "may be distinct" from ordinary 'Kelleriis'. There is some
ns: thought the 1925 'Kelleriis' was reselected to become the plant offered
ns: in the 80's. As the description's of 'Kelleriis' differ from dwarf to vigorous this
ns: group is much in need of taxonomic sorting out.
li: Lewis, J. and A. Leslie. 1987. The Int. conifer reg. Part I. p. 24

Abies pinsapo 'Kilmacurraugh'
ns: a listed name from De Belten Pinetum, Netherlands c. 1962

Abies pinsapo subsp. marocana Emborger & Maire
ll: often longer than subsp. pinsapo. This is true of stock sold in the US.
lt: needles flatter, wider than subsp. pinsapo
lc: blue-green, fewer stomatal lines than some subsp. pinsapo
bud: less resinous than subsp. pinsapo
frq: female strobili 5-7 in. long - larger than most subsp. pinsapo.
ns: it is a geographic variant located in a small mountain area but
ns: is highly ornamental in some arboreta. It is a transition to A.
ns: numidica but it not considered a hybrid to it. As it has a geographical
ns: limit the rank of subspecies is superior to that of botanical variety.
geo: Morocco, Algeria

Abies pinsapo 'Nana'
ht: 90cm (20 years)
ha: dwarf
or: W.B. Clarke, San Jose CA USA c. 1933, first sold 1935
id, ns: this name predates 'Clarke' so it is believed to be another
id, ns: plant. denOuden & Boom do not cover it and it may be lost?

Abies pinsapo 'Pendula'
ha: weeping

Abies pinsapo 'Prostrata'
ha: prostrate, presumably a cultivariant which any fir should be able to produce
or: known from Zederbaur 1907 and not seen in the modern trade (2003).

Abies pinsapo 'Pygmaea'
ha: densely pyramidal, true dwarf
or: Seneclauze Nursery, France before 1868

Abies pinsapo 'Pyramidata' ('Pyramidalis Compacta')
ha: compact, conical, limbs more distinctly ascending

Abies pinsapo 'Pyramidalis Glauca' illegitimate name
ha: densely pyramidal to conical
lc: rich blue-green, more glaucous than normal
or: P.C. Detriche, Angers, France c. 1972

Abies pinsapo 'Quicksilver'
ns: a listed name with Kenwith Nursery, UK c. 2002

Abies pinsapo 'San Diego Creeper'
ha: procumbent at first, low spreading, slow, eventually have a nest-like center
lc: glossy green
or: F.J. Crowe, San Diego CA USA before 1980

Abies pinsapo 'Variegata' ('Foliis Variegatus'?)
lc: variegated in some manner
ns: described by Gordon in 1858 but almost certainly lost to cultivation. Lawson used
ns: the name 'Foliis Variegatus' in 1850 for what could be the same mutation.

Abies pinsapo 'Weeping Blue' ('Pendula Glauca'?)
ha: pendulous
lc: blue much like 'Glauca'
or: sold in the US c. 1980
ns: it may be the 'Pendula Glauca' (clearly illegitimate name) known in collections
li: Hatch, L.C. 1983. Ref. guide to ornamental plt. cultivars. TCR Press. p. 4