THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



Samuel Baker. Since then it has been found by 

 other travellers in Cyprus and, to-day, it is known 

 to occupy about 500 acres of forest mixed with 

 Pmes and broad-leaf evergreen trees. All the Cyprus 

 Cedars discovered are comparatively young and 

 small, the largest measured being about 60 feet tall 

 and 1 1 feet 6 inches in girth of trunk. This Cedar 

 has a slightly drooping leading-shoot and the ends 

 of the branches are pendent as in the Cedar of 

 Lebanon but the leaves are quite short and the cones 

 are smaller than those of the Atlas Cedar. Seeds 

 were sent to Kew from Cyprus in 1881, but the 

 trees have grown slowly. It is unknown in this 

 country but in all probability would thrive in parts 

 of California. 



Eastward from Mt. Lebanon some 1,400 miles are 

 the Deodar Cedar forests of Afghanistan which 

 extend continuously eastward on the Himalayas al- 

 most to the confines of Nepal. This Cedar (C. 

 deodara) is in India exclusively a western tree; 

 it begins where the influence of the monsoon is 

 much diminished, that is where the climate begins 

 to approximate that of the Levant. Its altitudinal 

 range is between 3,500 and 10,000 feet and from 

 6,000 to 8,000 feet, and though it grows gregari- 

 ously it never forms pure forests. The leading- 

 shoots and the ends of the branches are more pendu- 



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