CEDRUS ATLANTICA. 
3 
“M. P. Jamin, to whom I had applied for information concerning the Atlas Cedars, writes, under date of Dec. 18, 1852, that he has just 
returned from a journey of 18 days to Batna, Lambessa, and the Peak of Tongour, taken for the express purpose of obtaining information concern¬ 
ing the tree, and that he had visited carefully the latter locality in company with the keeper of the forests. He there found two species of Cedar. 
The peak on which they grow is about 1800 metres above the sandy soil which borders it. The more remarkable plants found at the foot of the 
mountain by M. Jamin were, as might have been anticipated, Mediterranean species. Cedars began to appear at three-quarters up the slope of Ton¬ 
gour, where they produce a magnificent effedl, and form a thick forest up to the very summit of the peak. It is not uncommon to find specimens 
40 metres high, and 1^ metres in diameter at the butt. The two species live together, but they are distinguished at first sight. The Silver Cedar 
(C. Atlantica) was covered with ripe cones; on that of Lebanon (C. Africana) they were more behind, and flowers were still visible on some of 
the branches. The habit of the Silver Cedar (C. Atlantica) is that of the Silver Fir ; it is pyramidal, and its foliage is silvery ; while that of the 
Cedar of Lebanon (C. Africana) is dark green, and its branches horizontal, as we all know. The number of trees is estimated at 20,000; the 
finest are on the northern face of the peak. M. Jamin saw many dead of old age or struck by lightning. While he was writing, the ground 
was covered two metres deep with snow ; nevertheless, Asphodelus albus and luteus , Ranunculus flabellatus , violets, and a Retama (Spartium 
monospermum ), were already in flower in sheltered places.” 
We are very much disposed to agree with M. Decaisne as to the distinctness of the Cedar of Leba¬ 
non from that of Algeria, and with M. Cosson as to the two forms found in the latter country being only 
varieties of the latter. Under the Cedar of Lebanon we have shewn why we think the Cedar in the 
Himmalayas should be more divergent from the original type than that of the Cedar of Algeria, which 
lives in a climate more similar to that of Lebanon. Still, even in the latter, the constant difference in the 
cones and seeds, as well as the habit, induces us to regard them as separate species. But we cannot go 
further, or reckon the two varieties of the Algerian Cedar as more than two different forms of the same 
thing. They are found growing together, and the young plants introduced into this country shew no 
appreciable difference. 
A note relating to the Cedars of Mount Ciga inserted in the Annales Forestieres (1844, P- 0 
informs us that one of the largest Cedars on that mountain was 29- metres from the base to its first 
branches. Its trunk measured if metres in diameter at its base (nearly 15 feet in circumference), and 67 
centimetres at its upper end. 
Geographical Distribution .—This Cedar is confined to the north-east of Africa. It abounds on the 
Eastern Atlas range, and forms the prevalent arboreous vegetation throughout the eastern province of 
Constantine, which borders on Tunis; but we do not know whether or how far it extends westwards into 
the Greater Atlas, and into the kingdom of Morocco. It characterizes the upper mountain zone (5200 
to 7200 feet), and approaches within twenty miles of the sea. 
Although the occurrence of this Cedar in the Mount Atlas range has been long known, it was not 
until 1853 that the expedition of M. Jamin, and more especially of M. Cosson, gave us the reliable infor¬ 
mation which we now possess as to its range in the eastern part of Algeria. 
It was in that year that M. Cosson made his botanical exploration through the greater part of Al¬ 
geria, the results of which are published in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles for 1855. His explor¬ 
ations were confined to the province of Constantine and eastern part of the Atlas range, lying between 
36° 53' and 34° 40' N. lat., and 3° 21' and 4° 34' E. long, of Paris, but regarding it he gives full details 
and a map of the localities, which we have reproduced in our Map Plate, in describing the Cedar of Leba¬ 
non, in so far as it relates to the Cedars. He divides the district into four regions : 1, The Mediterranean 
region; 2, the region of high plateaux; 3, the mountain region; and 4, the Sahara, or desert region. 
The mountain region again he divides into three principal zones: viz., 1, the lower zone; 2, the 
middle zone (which do not concern us) ; and 3, the upper zone. This zone is characterized above 
all by the forests of Cedars; its upper part, often treeless, recalls the characters of Alpine vegetation by 
the presence of perennial plants disposed in compaCt tufts. “ The Cedar, which in the province of Con¬ 
stantine forms almost exclusively the forest vegetation of the upper mountain zone, occupies a surface of 
some thousands of hectares. It exists also in other parts of Algeria. It is met with in the chain of Djur- 
djura, but in these more abrupt mountains there are only some slopes favourable to its development. A 
forest of Cedars of a certain extent covers the upper part of the mountain of Ain Telazit above Blidah. 
[ 21 ] b It 
