174 A HANDBOOK OF CONIFER.E 



CEDRUS, Lawson. 

 Cedars (true). 



Larix, INIiller ; Pinus, Linnaeus ; Pinus, section Cedrus, Parlatore ; 

 Abies, Poiret. 



Evergreen trees belonging to the Laricinece group of Pinacece 

 found in the Syrian Mountains, the Himalaya, Atlas Mountains, 

 and Cyprus ; pyramidal in outline when young, often developing 

 massive trunks and large table-like branches when old, the foUage 

 borne in tufted masses except on terminal shoots. Bark of young 

 trees greyish, thin and smooth, at length becoming brown, thick, 

 deeply furrowed and broken into small irregular plates. Branch- 

 lets of two kinds : long terminal shoots, bearing scattered leaves, 

 and short, spur-like shoots which bear tufts of leaves in false 

 whorls. Young shoots clothed with greyish down. Winter buds 

 minute, ovoid, with brown scales which remain on the shoots after 

 the appearance of young leaves. Leaves needle-like, persistent, 

 lasting 3-6 years, usually three-sided, with stomata on each sur- 

 face and two marginal resin canals on the inner surface. Male 

 and female floivers on the same or on separate trees, solitary and 

 erect on the short shoots, appearing during late July and August, 

 fully developed during late September and early October. Male 

 flowers forming stiff, erect, cylindrical catkins up to 2|- in. long and 

 ^1 in. wide, consisting of numerous densely crowded anthers 

 which open longitudinally ; pollen grains golden, wingless. 

 Female flowers in small, greenish cones, about | in. long and I in. 

 in diameter at the time of pollination ; scales numerous, closely 

 overlapping, rounded above, narrowed to a claw-like process at 

 the base. Ovules two to each scale. Cones large, erect, barrel- 

 shaped, resinous, on short, stout stalks ; bracts very small (or 

 absent) ; scales woody, closely overlapping, fan-shaped with a 

 basal stalk-like claw. Seeds, two to each scale, each with a broad 

 membranous apical wing several times larger than the seed. 

 Cotyledons 9-10. Pollination takes place in October, but the 

 cones only begin to grow the following spring and do not attain 

 their full development until about two years after the first appear- 

 ance of the flowers. They are fully matured about two years 

 after polhnation, and break up irregularly between that time and 

 the following spring, leaving the central axis on the tree as in 

 Abies. The break-up of the cones appears to be hastened by wet 

 weather. 



Cedrus is distinguished from Larix by its evergreen leaves and 

 large cones with deciduous scales. 



Wood oily, sweet-scented, with conspicuous resin ducts ; sap- 

 wood yellowish white, heartwood brownish, becoming darker on 

 exposure, very durable, and an important timber in the Himalaya 

 and N. Africa. The wood, however, must not be confused with 



