Cedrus, with the common English name cedar, is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae (subfamily Abietoideae). They are native to the mountains of the western Himalayas and the Mediterranean region at high altitudes. The trees grow tall with a cylindrical trunk and a wide leafy crown. The cones are erect; the leaves grow in tufts of 15–45 needle leaves, which can be bright green or blue-green with a waxy coat. When the cones are mature, they disintegrate to release the seeds, which are winged. Both pollen and seeds are wind-dispersed.
Cedars are often planted as ornamental trees in parks and large gardens, while others are grown as bonsai. Cedar wood and cedarwood oil are naturally repellent to moths, and have an attractive, long-persistent scent.
Etymology
The English name derives from Old English ceder, from Latin cedrus, used for the genus. This in turn is derived from Greek κέδρος kédros, meaning cedar or juniper. Species of both trees are native to the area where Greek language and culture originated, though as the word kédros does not seem to be derived from any of the languages of the Middle East, it has been suggested the word may originally have applied to Greek species of juniper and was later adopted for species now classified in the genus Cedrus because of their aromatic woods. The name was similarly applied to citron: the word citrus is derived from the same root. As a loan word in English, cedar had become fixed to its biblical sense of Cedrus by the time of its first recorded usage in 1000 CE.
Description
Habit
Cedars are tall resinous trees growing to tall, rarely to , The seed cones are barrel-shaped, long and 3–8 cm broad, green maturing grey-brown, and, as in Abies, disintegrate at maturity to release the winged seeds. The seeds are long, with a 20–30 mm wing; as in Abies, the seeds have two or three resin blisters, containing an unpleasant-tasting resin, thought to be a defence against squirrel predation. Cone maturation takes one year, with pollination in autumn and the seeds maturing at the same time a year later. The pollen cones are slender ovoid, 3–8 cm long, produced in late summer, and shed pollen in autumn.
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File:Zürich - Bürkliplatz IMG 1163.JPG|Female (seed) cones of Lebanon cedar
File:Cedrus libani cone, Sète cf01.jpg|Immature male (pollen) cone of Lebanon cedar
File:Cedar male cones shedding pollen.JPG|Pollen cone of deodar cedar, shedding pollen in the wind
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Evolution
Fossil history
The oldest fossil of Cedrus is Cedrus penzhinaensis known from fossil wood found in Early Cretaceous (Albian) sediments of Kamchatka, Russia. An Early Miocene species, Cedrus anatolica, also from petrified wood and thought to be close to C. atlantica, is known from Turkey.
Phylogeny
Cedars have a similar cone structure to firs (Abies) and were traditionally thought to be most closely related to them, but genetic evidence indicates that they are instead sister to all other lineages in the subfamily Abietoideae.
Taxonomy and internal phylogeny
thumb|upright=0.8|Plate "" (Cedar with sharp rigid perennial leaves, subrotund erect cones) from [[Christoph Jacob Trew's description of the genus in his 1757 Plantae Selectae Quarum Imagines]]
The genus Cedrus was described by the German botanist Christoph Jacob Trew in his Plantae Selectae Quarum Imagines in 1757. The deodar cedar is sister to the Mediterranean cedars. The Cyprus cedar for example is variously considered to be a variety or subspecies of Cedrus libani, or a species C. brevifolia in its own right; some evidence from allozymes suggests it may even be embedded within the range of variation in the Turkish cedar. Divergence ages are marked on the cladogram.
The species cannot hybridise in nature due to their geographical separation, but when brought together in cultivation, they do so freely. However, because cedars (particularly between the Mediterranean taxa) are so similar to each other, hybrids are notoriously difficult to detect and identify. Hybrids between Atlas and Deodar cedars have been deliberately bred by the Tesi nursery in northern Italy since the 1980s, and were named in 2021 as the cultivar group Cedrus Tesi Group.
Distribution and ecology
thumb|upright=2|World distribution of all Cedrus species
Cedars are adapted to mountainous climates; in the Mediterranean, they receive winter precipitation, mainly as snow, and summer drought, while in the western Himalaya, they receive primarily summer monsoon rainfall and occasional winter snowfall. In Lebanon, a small number of cedars of Lebanon survive in protected areas including the Cedars of God near the Qadisha Valley, a World Heritage Site.
Fungal diseases of cedars include canker; collar, crown, and root rot; needle blight; Gymnosporangium rusts; Cedar trees are robust but become vulnerable to bark beetles in drought conditions. Other pests include the giant conifer aphid, scale insects, and nematodes such as the pine wilt nematode.
Uses
Cedars have long been highly valued for their scented, durable, and decay-resistant wood, being in demand for building temples and palaces for over 4,000 years from the period of the Epic of Gilgamesh onwards, the longest record of any conifer in human use.
Cedars are popular ornamental trees and are often cultivated in temperate climates where winter temperatures do not fall below −25 °C. The Turkish cedar is slightly hardier, to −30 °C or just below. Extensive mortality of planted specimens can occur in severe winters when temperatures fall lower. Cedars are suitable for training as bonsai in varied styles. Cedar wood and cedarwood oil are naturally repellent to moths.
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File:Jageshwar Temple Complex Tree.jpg|Large deodar cedar in Jageshwar temple at Almora, Uttarakhand in the Himalayas
File:Chiswick House 02.jpg|Formally planted ornamental cedars at Chiswick House, London.
File:Cedrus atlantica-Glauca-Bonsai (cropped).jpg|Glaucous Atlas cedar<br/>trained as a bonsai
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File:Cedrus wood.jpg|Cedar wood has a strong sweet spicy-resinous scent, and a distinctive colour and grain.
File:2024-04-26 13 10 35 A recently-cut Atlas Cedar branch on the Douglass Campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey.jpg|Freshly cut cedar wood has yellowish sapwood and orange-brown heartwood, and exudes strongly scented resin.
File:KV43-ArmPanelFromAChairSide1 MetropolitanMuseumOfArt.png|Cedar wood panel from the reign of Thutmose IV, circa 1400-1391 B.C.
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See also
- List of plants known as cedar