CHAP. cxni. 



CONl'FERiE. CE^DRUS. 



2t'29 



22S4 



the Nepal and Indo-Tataric mountains, at 10,000ft. or 12,000ft. above 

 the level of the sea. Introduced in 1822. 

 Varieties. According to Dr. Lindley, two varieties, or perhaps nearly allied 

 species, called the Shinlik and Christa rooroo, are mentioned by Moorcroft 

 as natives of the forests of Ladakh. (Peiin. Cj/c.) 



Dencriptioii. A lofty and very graceful tree, sometimes attaining the height 



of 150 ft., with a trunk 30 ft. in circumference, or even more ; and rarely, in 



the Himalayas, falling very far short of these 



dimensions. The branches are ample and 



spreading ; ascending a little near the trunk of 



the tree, but drooping at the extremities. The 



wood is compact, of a yellowish white, and 



strongly impregnated with resin. The bark is 



greyish, and, on the young branches, covered 



with a glaucous bloom. The leaves are either 



solitary or tufted, and are very numerous : they 



are larger than those of C. Libani, and of a 



bluish but dark green, covered with a light 



glaucous bloom. The male catkins are upright, 



without footstalks; cylindrical, somewhat club- 

 shaped; and yellowish, tinged with red. The 



cones Jire upright, generally in pairs, on short, 



thick, woody footstalks ; of nearly the same 



shape as those of the cedar of Lebanon, but 



broader and longer; shghtly tapering at the base, and somewhat more pointed 



at their summit. They are of a rich reddish brown, very resinous, and with 



the margins of the scales slightly marked with green ; about 4 in. in length, 



and from 1 in. to 2iin. broad. The 



scales are nearly of the same size and 



shape as those of C. Libani ; but they 



fall off when ripe, like those of the silver 



fir. The seed is light brown, and ir- 

 regularly shaped, with a large bright 



brown wing. The rate of growth, in 



the climate of London, appears to be 

 much the same as that of the cedar 

 of Lebanon ; and it is equally hardy. 

 A plant in the Horticultural Society's 

 Garden, of which ^g. 2285. is a por- 

 trait, after being 7 years planted, was, in ^' 

 1837, 8 ft. high, with the habit of the 

 common cedar ; but differing in the 

 glaucous or silvery hue of its leaves, 

 and in the points of its branches being 

 more pendulous. 



Geography and Histori/. The Cedrus Deoddra, the deodar, or kelon, of 

 the hills, according to Royle, is the most celebrated coniferous plant of the 

 Himalayas. It is found in Nepal, Kamaon, and as far as Cashmere, at eleva- 

 tions of from 7,000 ft. to 12,000 ft. from Sirmore and Kurhawal ; as, for ex- 

 ample, on jNIouma, Deohan, Choor, Kederkauta, and Najkanda. Roxburgh 

 calls it an inhabitant of the mountains in Eastern India, in Nepal, and Thibet. 

 According to Dr. Royle, the deodar cedar is mentioned by Avicenna. It 

 appears, in the quality and durability of its wood, its fragrance, and the 

 quantity of resin which it produces, to accord so well with the cedar of the 

 ancients, as to be by some identified with that tree. Its loftiness and its 

 spreading branches accord admirably with the descriptions given of the cedar 

 in Holy Writ ; and its wood (which is said to be incorruptible), from its hard- 

 ness and the fineness of its grain, might easily have been wrought as that is 



