Cedrus

Cedrus, common English name cedar, is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae (subfamily Abietoideae). They are found at elevations between 1,500 and 2,200 m in both the Himalayas, and 1,000 to 2,200 m in Europe.

Description

Cedrus trees can grow up to 30-40 m (occasionally 60 m) tall with spicy-resinous scented wood, thick ridged or square-cracked bark, and broad, level branches. The shoots are dimorphic with long shoots that form the framework for the branches and shorter shoots which contain most of the leaves. The leaves are evergreen and needle-like, 8-60 mm long, arranged in an open spiral phyllotaxis on long shoots, and in dense spiral clusters of 15-45 together on short shoots; they vary from bright grass-green to dark green to strongly glaucous pale blue-green, depending on the thickness of the white wax layer which protects the leaves from desiccation. The seed cones are cylindrical in shape, measuring 6-12 cm in length and 3-8cm wide. They mature to a grey-brown color and disintegrate at maturity to release their winged seeds. The seeds measure 10-15mm in length with a 20-30mm wing. As in Abies there are two to three resin blisters on the seeds. This resin contains an unpleasant-tasting substance, which is thought to protect against squirrel predation. Cone maturation takes one year, with pollination in autumn and the seeds maturing the same time a year later. The pollen cones are slender ovoid, 3-8 cm long, produced in late summer, and shedding pollen in autumn.

Ecology

Cedars are adapted to mountainous climates; in the Mediterranean, they receive winter precipitation, mainly as snow, and summer drought, while in the western Himalaya, they receive primarily summer monsoon rainfall and occasional winter snowfall . While some naturalized Cedrus species grow in the Americas, none are native.

Some Lepidoptera species, including the pine processionary and turnip-moth larvae, use cedars as food plants. (Recorded on deodarcedar).

Taxonomy

Cedars share a very similar cone structure with the firs (Abies) and were traditionally thought to be most closely related to them, but molecular evidence supports a basal position in the family.

Taxa

The five taxa of Cedrus are assigned according to taxonomic opinion to between one and four species: The oldest known fossil of Cedrus is Cedrus penzhinaensis known from fossil wood found in Early Cretaceous (Albian) sediments of Kamchatka, Russia.