Cedrus libani var. brevifolia - Cyprus cedar description

Scientific name: Cedrus libani var. brevifolia  Hook.f.  1880

Synonyms: Cedrus brevifolia (Hook.f.) Elwes & A.Henry, Cedrus libani subsp. brevifolia (Hook.f.) Meikle, Cedrus libanitica subsp. brevifolia (Hook.f.) O.Schwarz, Cedrus libanotica subsp. brevifolia (Hook.f.) Holmboe

Common names: Cyprus cedar (English), Kedros (Greek), Kibris sediri (Turkish)

Description

Tree to15(-20) m tall or dwarfed at the alpine timberline, with trunk to 1 (-1.2) 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 on short shoots, dark green or grayish green with wax, 0.5-1.6(-2) cm long (to 4 cm on long shoots), with a short point. Pollen cones 3-4 cm long, red. Seed cones (5-)7-10 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.

Restricted to the Tripylos area in Paphos State Forest in the Troodos Mountains in western Cyprus; 800-1,400 m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Vulnerable

Varieties:
Cedrus brevifolia ’Bergman’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Blau’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Bodrog’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Compacta’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Eleni’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Epstein’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Epsteinianum’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Gracilis’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Hillier Compact’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Horizon’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Horizontalis’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Kenwith’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Rosemoor’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Tokaj’
Cedrus brevifolia ’Treveron’
Cedrus brevifolia ’True Form’

Attribution from:Conifers Garden