Cedar of Lebanon – Root and Branch Review

Cedar of Lebanon – Root and Branch Review

Cedar of Lebanon, wilton House
Cedar of Lebanon

In the eighteenth century Cedar of Lebanon became the fashionable tree to plant in gardens and estates of stately homes.

Key Features of the Cedar of Lebanon

  • Latin name – Cedrus libani
  • Height – up to 130 feet wide spreading – slow growing & long lived
  • Type of tree – evergreen conifer
  • Leaves – Grey-blue to dark green needles growing in whorls on side shoots and singly on main shoots.
  • Flowers – Male yellow-brown, female larger, (6″) bright green with purple tinge
  • Fruit – Erect barrel shaped cones of grey-green turning to purpleish brown
  • Bark – Red-browns with shallow fissures
  • Family – Pinacea

Origins and Distribution of the Cedar of Lebanon

  • Natural habitat Syria, Tarsus mountains and Mount Lebanon.
  • Examples of the tree are mentioned in several books of the bible.

Uses and Attributes of the Cedar of Lebanon

  • Used by the Egyptians and Phonecians for building ships.
  • The tree is the national symbol of Lebanon and features on the national flag.
  • Cedar wood is a beautiful color and is used in cladding due to it’s hardness, exquisite fragrance and resistance to insects

Gardeners Tips for the Cedar of Lebanon

  • During the first 30-50 years of it’s life the Cedar of Lebanon grows in a conical shape. It then starts to develop the magestic and distinctive levels like plates of foliage.
  • One theory is that the branch shape is determined by heavy mountain snow that weighs the branches down.
  • Cedrus libani Sargentii has a short trunk weeping branches and is ideal for the rock garden.

Cedar of Lebanon, Warwick Castle Grounds

Other types of Cedar of Lebanon

  • Cedrus libani subsp. libani – grows in Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, northwest Jordan, western Syria, and south central Turkey.
  • Turkish cedar or Taurus cedar Cedrus libani subsp. stenocoma is from Turkey.
  • Look out for the slow growing Golden Dwarf Cedrus libani Aurea Prostrata

Cedar of Lebanon comments from elsewhere

  • ‘The Forest of the Cedars of God’ is a World Heritage Site of old Cedrus libani.
  • Throughout history, cedar wood, and such byproducts as cedar oil, have proven to be worth far more money than living trees, however beautiful they were. At the time of Gilgamesh, Egypt has already cut (without replanting) large amounts of cedar for ship construction and for export. They continued the same tradition. Cedar cutting prevailed under various administrations, up through the time of the Ottomans. They finished off most of the remaining forests by using cedar wood as fuel for railway engines. They generally bypassed more easily obtainable oak wood, since cedar (because of its oil content) burned much better. The presently remaining cedar groves were spared mainly because their regions were relatively difficult to reach. Cedrus Libani has been famous in Lebanon since early written history. read more on Cedar of Lebanon info site

Credits
Cedar of Lebanon, wilton House by 1967geezer CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Cedar of Lebanon, Warwick Castle Grounds by MichelleWalz CC BY 2.0

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