CBDEtJS DE0DAKA. 135 



Afghanistan to Nepaul, from longitude 68° to 85° E., at various 

 elevations between 6,000 and 12,000 feet. 



Introduced into Great Britain, 1831, by the Hon. W. Leslie 

 Melville. 



Varieties. — Since its introduction, some varieties of the Deodar have 

 originated in British Nurseries, which have been named respectively : — 

 argentea, in which the glaucescence of the foliage is heightened to 

 almost silvery whiteness; crassifolia, the leaves stouter and shorter; 

 robusta, the branches and their appendages larger and stouter; viridis, 

 the foliage of a deeper green than in the ordinary type. 



The introduction of the Deodar marks an epoch in the annals of 

 British arboriculture. Its graceful and beautiful form in its young 

 state, and its grand and imposing aspect in its maturity, place it in 

 the highest rank as an ornamental tree, its value as such being greatly 

 enhanced by the readiness with which it accommodates itself to almost 

 all situations. No position and no variety of soil appears to come 

 amiss to it ; on lime or sandstone, rock or clay, it grows with equal 

 facility,"* but in very dry shallow sandy land it becomes stunted and 

 half divested of foliage, in retentive clays it grows into a dense 

 compact tree. The habit, as regards the spread of branches, varies 

 considerably ; some specimens spread out their branches horizontally, 

 like the Lebanon Cedar, while in others they are comparatively short 

 and more or less decumbent. To secure fine lawn and park specimens 

 the space to be allowed for the free growth of their lower branches 

 may be regulated by the progress of the tree. The lower branches 

 of some of the oldest Deodars in England extend, at the present time, 

 30 feet from the trunk, while others, of greater height, have their 

 lower branches not more than half of that length. The rate of growth 

 in Great Britain, after the plants are established, ranges from 16 to 21 

 inches annually. 



There is a physiological circumstance common to the Cedars and 

 Larches, which in the Deodar especially is a most valuable provision, 

 viz., the fasciculation of the leaves, which is really an arrested bud, 

 so that when the leader or terminal branchlets have not ripened their 

 wood sufficiently to enable them to pass through a severe winter 

 without injury, or when injured by other causes, a new leader and 

 fresh branchlets are formed from the arrested buds in immediate 

 proximity to the injured part. The repair of injuries by the Deodar 

 is very rapid. Another interesting feature may be observed in the 

 pendulous leader which changes its direction every year. "It makes a 

 complete revolution in three years,, and so ascends like a screw."! 



* Earl Ducie in Trans. Scotch Arb. Soc, 1874. t Lawson's Pinetum Britannicum-. 



