392 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
May  9,  1901. 
The  Cedars. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Leeuwenhoek  Microscopical  Club,  held  some 
time  ago  at  Ashfield,  College  Road,  Whalley  Range,  Mr.  Charles 
Bailey  read  a  paper  on  the  Cedars  of  Lebanon,  India,  and  Algeria. 
He  remarked  that  these  Cedars  are  invested  with  singular  interest 
on  account  of  their  botanical  relationship,  their  geographical 
distribution  and  localities,  their  great  age  and  durability,  and  their 
peculiar  organisation.  There  are  three  geographical  forms  of  the 
Cedar,  not  pronounced  enough  to  warrant  their  elevation  to  the  full 
dignity  of  species,  and  yet  sufficiently  distinct  as  to  be  easily 
separable  by  the  forester  or  nurseryman,  and  to  be  regarded  in  a 
popular  sense  as  different  species  of  the  same  genus.  But,  as  Sir 
Joseph  Hooker  pointed  out  in  the  classical  paper  which  he  published 
in  “The  Natural  History  Review ”  for  1862,  botanical  science  now 
regards  them  as  one  super- 
species.  The  Cedar  of  Lebanon 
(Cedrus  Libani,  Barrelier,  is  the 
typical  form,  and  is  readily  re¬ 
cognised  by  its  branches  and 
foliage  growing  in  flattened 
masses,  as  though  the  fabric  ot 
the  tree  was  built  up  in  tiers  ; 
its  trunk  is  much  shorter  than 
its  primary  branches,  which  are 
very  massive ;  the  extremities 
of  its  growing  branches  are 
slightly  pendulous,  and  the 
leavei  are  dark  grass-green  in 
tone.  The  Indian  Cedar,  or 
Deodar  (Cedrus  Deodara,  Lou¬ 
don )  has  its  main  branches 
shorter  in  proportion  to  the 
length  of  the  trunk  than  is  the 
case  with  its  two  allies,  so  that 
it  possesses  a  more  pyramidal 
outline  ;  the  terminal  growths 
are  more  slender  and  very  pen¬ 
dulous,  while  its  leaves  are  as 
long  as,  or  longer  than,  those 
of  the  Lebanon  Cedar,  and  of 
a  paler  and  more  glaucous  shade 
of  green.  The  Algerian  Cedar 
(Cedrus  atlantica,  Manetti ) 
differs  from  the  others  by  its 
greater  tendency  to  produce  a 
perfect  erect  and  rigid  trunk  ; 
its  branches  are  of  unequal 
length,  and  from  this  circum¬ 
stance  its  mass  has  a  more 
broken  outline  than  its  con¬ 
geners  ;  the  terminations  of  the 
growing  branches  are  more 
rigid  than  they  are  in  either  of 
the  other  two,  being  rarely  or 
never  pendulous  ;  its  leaves  are 
shorter  and  even  more  glaucous 
than  the  Deodar,  often  becoming 
quite  white  or  silvery  in  tone. 
Characteristics. 
It  is  thus  seen  that  the 
greatest  difference  between  the 
three  forms  rests  mainly  in  the 
habit  of  growth ;  and  yet  this  habit  is  so  unstable  that  most 
nurserymen  are  able  to  supply  each  of  the  three  forms  in  several 
variations,  such  as  colour  of  foliage,  rigidity  of  stem  and 
branches,  and  length  of  leaf,  thus  showing  the  close  inter-relations 
that  exist  between  them.  Sir  Joseph  Hooker  and  the  late  Professor 
David  Oliver  made  a  careful  collection  and  comparison  of  the  fruiting 
cones,  cone-scales,  seeds,  and  their  wings,  anthers,  and  leaves,  from 
materials  at  Kew  and  elsewhere,  and  from  these  they  drew  up  the 
characteristic  aspects  ot  each  form,  which  they  represented  on  three 
plates  published  in  the  “  Natural  History  Review  ”  of  1862.  The 
figures  of  the  three  forms  look  distinct  enough  on  paper,  especially  the 
Cedar  of  Lebanon,  but  the  transitions  between  each  are  so  frequent, 
and  the  outlines  of  the  organs  of  the  same  form  so  often  overlap,  that 
specific  distinctions  vanish.  Other  characters,  says  the  “  Manchester 
City  News,”  have  been  relied  upon  for  differentiating  them,  such  as 
the  structure  of  the  bark,  wood,  and  leaves ;  the  degree  of  intensity 
of  their  resinous  odours;  their  periods  of  flowering  and  leafing  ; 
their  mode  of  germination,  hardiness,  growth,  and  duration  ;  but  all 
these  break  down  when  they  are  put  to  the  test. 
An  Arctic  Mountain  Growth. 
The  distribution  of  these  three  Cedars  in  space  is  of  peculiar 
interest.  They  occur  in  a  narrow  belt  along  the  thirtieth  degree  of 
north  latitude,  beginning  a  few  degrees  above  it  in  Morocco,  and 
falling  a  few  degrees  below  it  in  north-western  India.  This  line 
extends  over  eighty  dearees  of  longitude;  its  central  portion  is 
oocupied  by  the  Cedar  of  Lebanon  in  various  districts  of  Cilicia  and 
Syria ;  1500  miles  to  the  east  of  this  area  we  come  to  the  region 
inhabited  by  the  Deodar,  in  the  forest  of  Afghanistan,  Baloochistan, 
and  the  Himalayas ;  1500  miles  to  the  west  of  the  Syrian  area  we 
reach  the  region  occupied  by  the  African  Cedar  in  Algeria,  and 
Morocco  on  the  slopes  ot  the  Atlas  Mountains.  In  recent  years  an 
intermediate  form  has  been  discovered  in  the  mountains  of  Cyprus, 
which  has  Borne  affinities  with  the  Cedar  of  the  Atlas  range,  but 
whose  alliance  is  mainly  with  the  form  which  is  found  on  the  adjacent 
Cilician  and  Syrian  mainland.  The  distribution  of  these  Cedars  in 
vertical  range  is  not  less  remark¬ 
able  than  their  geographical 
distribution.  All  three  are  re 
stricted  to  mountainous  regions ; 
in  the  Hindu-Koosh  the  Deodar 
ascends  to  elevations  of  from 
6000  to  12,000  feet  in  height; 
while  the  other  two  occupy 
regions  of  about  half  those  eleva¬ 
tions.  They  all  occur  in  localities 
which  possess  abundant  evi¬ 
dence  ot  former  glacial  action, 
thus  indicating  their  natural 
affinity  for  a  more  arctic  climate 
than  what  they  now  enjoy.  The 
Cedars  in  the  well  -  known 
Kedisha  gorge  of  the  Lebanon 
occur  on  the  surface  of  old 
moraines  of  from  80  to  100  feet 
in  depth,  on  the  side  of  a  stream 
which  has  cut  its  way  through 
the  debris,  and  whose  sources 
are  in  the  surrounding  heights 
above  the  corrie  in  which  the 
moraines  have  been  stranded. 
Similar  evidence  of  glacial  con¬ 
ditions  prevail  in  the  stations  for 
the  Deodar, Hooker  having  found 
abundant  evidence  in  Sikkim 
and  Nepal  of  glaciers  having 
existed  in  past  ages  4000  feet 
below  the  lowest  altitudes  at 
which  these  trees  occur  in  those 
regions.  The  like  set  of  con¬ 
ditions  appertain  also  to  the 
Cedar  of  the  Atlas  range. 
A  Dying  Species. 
The  conclusion,  therefore,  is 
reasonable,  that  when  the  Cedar 
was  in  the  zenith  of  its  most 
prolific  growth  it  was  when  an 
arctic  or  semi-arctic  climate 
prevailed,  and  that  probably 
there  was  once  a  belt  of  Cedar 
forests  extending  all  the  way 
Botanical  Garden.  from  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  in 
the  west,  to  the  recesses  of  the 
mountains  of  north-western 
India  in  the  east.  As  the  severity  of  the  glacial  epoch  became  merged, 
stage  by  stage,  into  the  more  temperate  conditions  of  p  ehistoric  and 
historic  times,  the  Cedar  forests  passed  through  a  severe  struggle  for 
existence  ;  their  continuous  line  became  broken  on  the  lower  ground  ; 
their  flanks  were  cut  off  one  by  one  by  the  increasing  dryness  and 
rising  temperature ;  until  the  last  remnants  of  a  once  mighty  army 
have  had  to  betake  themselves  to  higher  and  higher  regions,  where  at 
the  present  day  they  could  alone  find  the  nearest  approach  to  what 
they  enjoyed  in  their  palmiest  days.  Thus  the  survivors  of  an  ancient 
and  noble  race  are  left  on  the  Atlas,  the  Lebanon,  and  the  Himalayan 
ranges,  where  they  represent  the  “  survival  of  the  fittest,”  and  where 
they  are  at  best  a  decaying  tribe.  It  is  in  this  way  that  the 
establishment  of  three  separate  forms  of  one  antique  and  lost  species 
may  be  accounted  for;  the  different  surroundings  of  the  three  principal 
areas  now  occupied  by  the  survivors  explain  the  variations  in  their 
modern  geographical  forms,  in  their  habit  of  growth,  in  the  shape 
and  size  of  their  cones  and  cone-scales,  in  the  size  of  their  seeds  and 
the  forms  of  their  wings,  in  the  length  of  their  leaves  and  the 
arrangement  of  the  stomata ;  and  they  also  furnish  the  clue  to  the 
Agave  attenuata  in  Missouri 
