CEDEtJS LIBANI. 137 



Oedrus Libani.— The Cedar of Lebanon has been called "The 

 Patriarch of the Tribe," and there are few persons who have once 

 seen it when it has reached an age sufficient to develop its majestic 

 form that would deny the appropriateness of the title. Its pecu- 

 liarly distinct aspect renders it one of the most easily recognized of 

 all trees. The trunk is massive and much branched, attaining but a 

 moderate height; the branches are horizontal, rigid, tabuliform, dis- 

 posed in distinct whorls or stages, and long in proportion to the height 

 of the tree, so that the habit is spreading and quite different from 

 the pyramidal spiry growth of the Firs. The branchlets grow from 

 their primaries in a flat fan-like manner, and are very numerous 

 and -thickly set. The foliage is dense, and at first of a bright green, 

 which changes, by age, to a deep grass green and slightly glaucous; 

 but sometimes the glaucous hue is gradually heightened, year after 

 year, till the leaves become almost of silvery whiteness, imparting to 

 the tree a truly venerable and hoary aspect. The leaves are straight, 

 slender, about 1 inch long, on short foot-stalks, tapering to a point, 

 and persistent about two years. The cones are ovate oblong, from 

 3 to 5 inches long and from 2 to 2£ inches broad. 



Sabitat. — The mountains of Syria and Asia Minor, especially Lebanon 

 and that portion of the Tauric range which extends through Cilicia.* 

 Also in the island of Cyprus on the mountain near Khrysokus.f 



Oedrus Libani argentea differs from the common form only in 

 its highly glaucous foliage, as described . above. It occurs in a wild 

 state (on Mount Taurus) as well as in cultivation. 



Several specimens of extraordinary beauty are growing at The Poles, 

 near Ware, Hertfordshire, the residence of Robert Hanbury, Esq., long 

 known as a liberal patron of horticulture. The foliage of these trees 

 is of silvery whiteness, and presents a striking contrast to the green 

 of the surrounding trees. 



The date of the introduction of the Cedar of Lebanon into England 

 cannot be fixed with certainty; it is not mentioned in Evelyn's Silva, 

 written in 1664, but there is evidence to show that its introduction 

 was effected very shortly afterwards. One of the oldest Cedars in 

 England is standing in Bretby Park, Derbyshire; this is known to 



* In Monte Tauro prajsertim cilicio sylvas vaatas construens. —Prod., xvi., p. 408. 



t The discovery of the Cedar in Cyprus is quite recent. It appears to be confined to 

 one spot, and to differ from the known form in having shorter leaves and smaller cones.— 

 See paper by Sir J. D. Hooker in the Jownal of the IAnwzvm Society, vol. sriii., p. 517; 



