134 A MANUAL OF THE CONIFERS. 



Cedar from the Lebanon one, and in beds of young plants the 

 differences are very marked."* 



Habitat. — Mount Atlas in northern Africa, at an elevation of from 

 5,200 to 7,200 feet, forming the prevalent arborescent vegetation 

 throughout the province of Oonstantine on the eastern Atlas range. 



Introduced into Europe in 1841, and subsequently into England. 



The African or Mount Atlas Cedar was first mentioned by Giuseppe 

 Manetti, an Italian botanist, hi a Catalogue of Plants in the Botanic 

 Garden at Monza, near Milan, published in 1841 j the precise date of 

 its introduction is not known. Its growth in England is rather more 

 rapid than that of either Cedrvs deodara or O. Libani. It is quite 

 hardy. 



The specific name, Atlantica, refers to its habitat (Mount Atlas). 



Oedrus Deodara. — The Deodar in its native forests on the slopes 

 of the Himalayas, is an immense tree, often seen from 150 to 200 

 feet high, with a trunk from 25 to 30 feet in girth. No adequate 

 idea of the grandeur of an old Deodar can be formed from the 

 young specimens growing in Britain, as the trees vary much in 

 appearance during growth. In its maturity, "the branches of the 

 Deodar spread out in horizontal expansions, rising flight above flight 

 in successive steps into a rounded or slightly flattened top. The 

 slightest trace of decay is seldom or never seen in the trunk, and 

 the tree, except when growing in very exposed situations, never 

 puts on the depressed tabulated character of the_ Cedar of Lebanon." t 

 In this country, in its most familiar aspect, the Deodar is a beautiful 

 tree, with an elongated pyramidal or conical outline broken here and 

 there by projecting branches, with a pendulous leader and drooping 

 branchlets, and clothed with a profusion of light glaucous foliage," 

 which becomes a deep grass green by age. Many of the older 

 Deodars in Britain are gradually growing out of their youthful habit 

 and yearly assuming, more and more, the Cedar character as seen 

 in the native forests, and into the stately majestic forms of which 

 they will, doubtless, ultimately develope. 



Habitat. — The Himalayan Mountains, in a continuous forest from 



* Sir J. D. Hooker in Natural History Revieu), January, 1862. 



+ Lawson's Pinetum Britannicim, Oedrus Deodara, p. 3. But in the Kuram district in 

 Afghanistan, Dr. Aitcheson remarks, that "It is curious to note that trees here all, more or 

 less, run to trunk, the tranches scarcely afford timber at all ; and this is especially remarkable 

 on the Hazardaracht River* where the branches are extremely short and very small in calibre." 



