CEDRUS. 407 



with nine other species of the Abietineae, included in Pinus in the 

 "Species Plantarum," published in 1753,* and for nearly a century 

 afterwards generic rank was denied to these noble trees. Loudon was, 

 in a technical sense, the first to recognise their claim to this rank, 

 which has since been generally admitted. When the reproductive 

 organs alone are considered, it is not easy to find in the Cedars, 

 characters that shall clearly separate them from Abies. The structure 

 of the cones almost conforms to that of the cones of the Silver Firs ; 

 the scales, seeds and their wings corresponding in shape, texture and 

 arrangement ; but whilst the cones of the Silver Firs usually fall off 

 the first year, with the exception of the central axis which remains 

 some time longer, the cones of the Cedars persist from two to three 

 years. Moreover the staminate flowers in Abies are axillary and often 

 clustered ; in the Cedars they are solitary and terminal on short 

 arrested branchlets or "spurs," a character which also distinguishes Cedars 

 from Tsuga, Picea and Pinus. In the arrangement of the leaves in 

 pseudo-fascicles or tufts on the " spurs " the Cedars agree with the 

 Larches, but the leaves themselves come much nearer in form, texture 

 and consistency to those of the Spruce Firs. 



The generic characters of Cedrus may thence be formulated thus : 



Staminate flowers terminal on short arrested branchlets, surrounded 



at the base by numerous small involucral bracts. Anthers very 



numerous, sub-sessile, spirally crowded around an erect staminal column ; 



anther cells 2, dehiscing longitudinally. 



Ovuliferous flowers sub-globose, composed of spirally arranged, closely 

 imbricated scales with a small appressed bract on the under (dorsal) side, 

 and bearing two inverted ovules on the upper (ventral) side near the base. 

 Cones maturing the second year, ovoid, cylindric, obtuse, variable in 

 size. Scales closely imbricated and enclosing the bract which disappears 

 before the cone ripens, the outer exposed margin slightly rounded 

 or almost truncate, contracted on the basal side to a short cuneate 

 claw, and persistent for some time after the fall of the seeds. 



Seeds angular, with a hard ligneous testa and large membraneous wings. 

 Whilst the relationship of the Cedars to the other members of 

 the Abietineae can be distinctly formulated, their relationship, inter se, 

 is so close that characters sufficiently definite to separate them 

 specifically are almost wanting. This relationship was critically 

 investigated by Sir J. D. Hooker many years ago, after making an 

 excursion to Mount Lebanon with the object of ascertaining the 

 condition of the celebrated Cedar grove in the Kedisha valley ; the 

 result of the mission and the investigation that followed were 

 communicated in a memorable paper published in the " Natural 

 History Review " for January, 1862. 



After describing the condition of the Cedars in the Kedisha valley 

 and their geographical position in respect to those on Mount Atlas 



* Lambert followed Linnaeus in including the Cedar of Lebanon in Pinus, and also at 

 a later period Endlicher and Parlatore, joining with it the Indian and African forms, but 

 distinguishing them sectionally. By L. C. Richard the Cedar of Lebanon was included in 

 Abies, in which he was followed by Lindley. By the pre-Linnean botanist, Tournefort, it 

 was included in Larix, also by Miller in the early editions of his Dictionary, and later 

 by Salisbury. 



