tlNETUM DANICtJM* 



407 



314, Abies Cecinis, Poir. Diet. vi. 510. Cedrus patula, Koch, Dendr. 

 1873, ii. 268. 



Habitat. — The mountains of Syria and Asia Minor, especially 

 Lebanon, and that portion of the Tauric range which extends through 

 Cilicia. "In Monte Tauro pra3sertim Cilicio sylvas vastas construens" 

 (Prodr. xvi. 408). Also in the island of Cyprus on the mountain 

 near Khrysakus. 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 "Journal of the Linnean Society," xviii. 

 517). Also in some parts of Algeria, where it grows together with 

 Cedrus atlantica. 



In Bellon's treatise, "De ArboribusConiferis," published in 1553, the 

 author says he was told that the Cedar of Solomon is found on Mount 

 Lebanon, and also on Amanus and Taurus, and on the mountains 

 above Nicea, but nowhere in the Isle of Crete. He then mentions 

 several kinds of Juniper, all of which he calls Cedars ; and states it to 

 be his opinion that the great Cedar of Mount Lebanon was not the 

 wood used for building Solomon's Temple. On another page, after 

 relating his visit to Mount Lebanon, he says, " Pight true and 

 excellent are the trees of Mount Lebanon." He afterwards describes 

 their appearance and mode of growth, adding : ' ' The Cedars that we 

 saw on Amanus and Taurus were very similar to these. They grew in 

 moist places, like those in which the Spruce Fir {Picea Abies, L.) 

 delights ; and they are also found in moist valleys." 



The Cedar of Lebanon has been long celebrated for its majestic 

 growth, and frequent allusions are made to it in Holy Writ. In 

 Isaiah xli. 19, it is thus stated : ' * I will plant in the wilderness the cedar; 

 I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine." In Ezekiel xvii. 22 : 

 " Thus saith the Lord God ; I v»dll also take of the highest branch 

 of the high cedar, and will set it ; I will crop olF from the top of his 

 young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and 

 eminent." Again it is mentioned in the First Book of Kings vii. 2. that 

 Solomon built "the house of the forest of Lebanon " with the Cedar 

 tree ; not that the house was erected on Mount Lebanon, but in 

 consequence of the vast number of Cedar trees employed in its 

 construction, especially those that constituted its numerous columns, 

 which were all of the Cedar tree, and gave rise to its being designated 

 "the house of the forest of Lebanon." It is also stated in Ezekiel 

 xxvii. 5, "They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir : 

 they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee." In 

 reference to this passage may be here quoted the following extract 

 from a note relative to it in the ' ' Pictorial Bible " : " It is by no means 

 certain that the tree to which naturalists have given the name ' Cedar 

 of Lebanon' is the same as the 'Arez of Lebanon,' so often mentioned 

 in Scripture. As the word in the Armenian dialects is applied to 



