132 A MANUAL OV THE CONIEERiE. 



with but little interruption, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Chinese 

 Sea. The three species, if species they are, occupy positions nearly 

 equidistant, the Cedar of Lebanon being in the middle, with the Hima- 

 layan Cedar (0. Deodara), and the Mount Atlas Cedar (0. atlantica), 

 east and west of it respectively, and separated from it by an interval 

 of from 1,200 to 1,400 miles. Their habitat is thus restricted to a 

 portion of a zone, the limits of which are included within 7° or 8° 

 of latitude. The Cedar of Lebanon and the Deodar have been asso- 

 ciated from remote antiquity with sacred objects and the religious 

 worship of the people inhabiting the region where they abound, caused 

 doubtless by the venerable aspect of the aged trees. 



If the generic distinction of the Cedars is apparently so manifest, 

 it is by no means easy to frame specific characters by which the 

 three trees from the three distant regions above-named may be clearly 

 distinguished from each other. In the Natural History Review for 

 January, 1862, Sir Joseph Hooker, after giving a general description of 

 the three Cedars in their several habitats, observes — " That as species 

 the three Cedars cannot be distinguished, and that they must all have 

 been derived from one common stock. It should be added that, 

 .besides the differences in habit, habitat, and colour of foliage, there are 

 no other distinctions whatever between them — of bark, wood, leaves, 

 male cones, anthers, or the structure of these, nor in their mode of 

 germination or duration, the girth they attain, or their hardiness. Also 

 that all are very variable in habit ; so much so indeed is this the 

 case with the Deodar, which is the most distinct of all in habit, that 

 there are several distinct varieties sold by nurserymen, some as stiff 

 leaved, others as dark coloured, and others as short leaved as the 

 Lebanon Cedar. Also, that though the differences in the shape of the 

 seeds and scales of Libani and Deodara are very marked, they vary 

 much ; many forms of each overlap ; and further transition between the 

 most dissimilar may be established by intercalation of seeds and scales 

 from Cedrus atlantica." Nevertheless, they may be regarded as three well- 

 marked forms which are usually very distinct, and of which each has 

 its own separate importance in the practical operations of planting. 



Cedrus, from miSpog (kedros), the Cedar, but often applied by the 

 Greeks to trees belonging to the Juniper family, probably Juniperus 

 plicemcea and J. excelsa, just as Cedar is often applied at the present 

 time to the Virginian Juniper (Ked Cedar), to Cupressus thyoides 

 (White Cedar), and by the Canadians to the common Arbor Vite 

 (Tlwia occidental is). 



