Cedrus libani - Lebanon cedar description

Scientific name: Cedrus libani  A. Richard  1823

Synonyms: Abies cedrus (L.) Poir., Cedrus cedrus (L.) Huth, Cedrus effusa (Salisb.) Voss, Cedrus elegans Knight, Cedrus libanensis Juss. ex Mirb., Cedrus libanitica Trew ex Pilg., Cedrus libanotica Link, Cedrus patula K.Koch, Larix cedrus (L.) Mill., Larix patula Salisb., Peuce cedrus (L.) Rich., Pinus cedrus L., Pinus effusa Salisb.

Infraspecific taxa: Cedrus libani var. brevifolia  Hook.f., Cedrus libani var. stenocoma (O.Schwarz) Frankis

Common names: Lebanon cedar, Cedar of Lebanon (English), Katran ağacı (Turkish)

Description

Tree to 30(-40) m tall or dwarfed at the alpine timberline, with trunk to 1.5(-2.5) m in diameter. Bark dark grayish brown, breaking up into vertically aligned, scaly blocks. Crown remaining conical in forest-grown trees but often broadening and flattening markedly with age in isolation, with long horizontal branches bearing horizontal or rising side branches. Young long shoots hairless or densely hairy with short, dark hairs. Winter buds 2-3 mm long, usually not conspicuously resinous. Needles in tufts of (15-)20-35(-45) on short shoots, dark green or grayish green with wax, 0.5-2.5 cm long (to 4 cm on long shoots), with a short point. Pollen cones 3-5 cm long, red. Seed cones 5-10(-12) cm long, 3-6 cm across, light green to grayish green with purplish highlights before maturity, ripening brown, broadly rounded, flat, indented, or with a central bump at the tip. Seed scales 2-3.5 cm long, 2.5-4 cm wide, with rusty hairs on the hidden lower surface. Seed body (8-)10-15 mm long, the wing 10-20 mm longer.

The Lebanon Cedar is the national emblem of Lebanon, and is displayed on the Lebanese flag and coat of arms.

Mountains adjacent to the northeastern Mediterranean coast, from the western Taurus Mountains of southwestern Turkey to the Mountains of Lebanon, with an outlier in Tokat province (Turkey) near the Black Sea; (500-)1,300-2,500(-3000) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Vulnerable

Varieties:

Cedrus libani ’528 WRA’
Cedrus libani ’Aglasun’
Cedrus libani ’Alibaba’
Cedrus libani ’Argentea’
Cedrus libani ’Aurea’
Cedrus libani ’Aurea Prostrata’
Cedrus libani ’Aurea Robusta’
Cedrus libani ’Beacon Hill’
Cedrus libani ’Beneš’
Cedrus libani ’Bergkristall’
Cedrus libani ’Blue Angel’
Cedrus libani ’Blue Fountain’
Cedrus libani ’Blue Snake’
Cedrus libani ’Brevifolia’
Cedrus libani ’Brevifolia Epsteinianum’
Cedrus libani ’Bulky Bull’
Cedrus libani ’Camie’
Cedrus libani ’Candelabrum’
Cedrus libani ’Cenk’
Cedrus libani ’Columnaris’
Cedrus libani ’Comte de Dijon’
Cedrus libani ’Conica Nana’
Cedrus libani ’Decidua’
Cedrus libani ’Denudata’
Cedrus libani ’Don Caster’
Cedrus libani ’Elysabeth’
Cedrus libani ’Eugene’
Cedrus libani ’Fastigiata’
Cedrus libani ’Fontaine’
Cedrus libani ’Glauca’
Cedrus libani ’Glauca Karaca’   
Cedrus libani ’Glauca Pendula’
Cedrus libani ’Glauca WB’
Cedrus libani ’Gold Tip’
Cedrus libani ’Golden Door’
Cedrus libani ’Golden Dwarf’
Cedrus libani ’Green Knight’
Cedrus libani ’Green Price’
Cedrus libani ’Green White’
Cedrus libani ’HB Fachschule Melnik’
Cedrus libani ’Hedgehog’
Cedrus libani ’Heemstede’
Cedrus libani ’Heidelburg’
Cedrus libani ’Hilliers HB’
Cedrus libani ’Home Park’
Cedrus libani ’Hulsdonk’
Cedrus libani ’Jacoba’   
Cedrus libani ’Jakl’
Cedrus libani ’Katere’
Cedrus libani ’Kenwith’
Cedrus libani ’Kraus Twisted’
Cedrus libani ’May’
Cedrus libani ’Minuta’
Cedrus libani ’Mount Tryplos’
Cedrus libani ’Mt. Saint Catherine’
Cedrus libani ’Multicaulis’
Cedrus libani ’Nana’
Cedrus libani ’Nana Green Prince’
Cedrus libani ’Nana Pyramidata’
Cedrus libani ’Nemrut Dagi’  
Cedrus libani ’Neuberk’
Cedrus libani ’Niksartyp’
Cedrus libani ’Pendula’
Cedrus libani ’Purdue Hardy’
Cedrus libani ’Prostrata’
Cedrus libani ’Rita’
Cedrus libani ’Sargentii’
Cedrus libani ’Sargentii Glauca’  
Cedrus libani ’Silberspritz’  
Cedrus libani ’Sparkling Falls’
Cedrus libani ’Stricta’
Cedrus libani ’Stricta Glauca’
Cedrus libani ’Taurus’
Cedrus libani ’Tawney’
Cedrus libani ’Tortuosa’
Cedrus libani ’Victoria Pendula’
Cedrus libani ’Viridis’
Cedrus libani ’Whitehouse WB’
Cedrus libani ’Wormleybury’

Attribution from: Conifers Garden