Abies cephalonica in Austria
Abies cephalonica (Pinaceae) is an endemic conifer of the Greek mainland mountains and of some adjacent islands (e.g. Euboea). In its native range, A. cephalonica grows in a wide variety of Mediterranean mountain forests, mostly on calcareous soils, at altitudes between 400 and 1800 m above sea level. Since the second half of the 19th century, A. cephalonica has been utilised as an ornamental tree in parks and private gardens in the south of Vienna, Austria. Additionally, around the same time, small plantations for forestry were established in Niederschlatten near Bad Vöslau. In the late 1970s, a small forestry trial plantation (size: c. 3000 m2) of A. cephalonica was established at Harzberg near Waldandacht northwest of Bad Vöslau and in the 1980s, several forestry trial plantations were established in Eastern Austria, mostly on the eastern rim of the Northern Calcareous Alps. During fieldwork in 2022, around known sites of plantation and at sites with mature planted trees in parks and gardens, 14 occurrences of escaped A. cephalonica were reported. All 14 sites are located at the eastern rim of the Northern Calcareous Alps in Lower Austria south of Vienna. Several populations are large, consisting of several hundred young trees, and a few populations have spread considerable distances from planted old trees and now cover several hectares. Some older escaped trees are already capable of reproduction. Escaped A. cephalonica in Austria occur mostly in deciduous and mixed forests and in old parks and hedgerows.
Sources
Essl F (2022) Introduction, spread and distribution of Abies cephalonica in Austria. BioInvasions Records 11(3), 593–599.