BOTANICAL NAME
Cedrus libani (cedar of Lebanon); Cedrus brevifolia (sometimes known as cedar of Cyprus); Cedrus atlantica (Atlas or Algerian cedar); Cedrus deodara (deodar)
DISTRIBUTION
Cedar of Lebanon: Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. Cedrus brevifolia: western Troodos Mountains, Cyprus. Atlas or Algerian cedar: Algeria and Morocco. Deodar: western Himalayas, from northern Pakistan and Afghanistan through Kashmir to western Nepal.
OLDEST KNOWN LIVING SPECIMEN
Cedar of Lebanon: ancient grove on slopes of Mount Lebanon, possibly 3,000 years. Deodar: oldest verifiable tree around 1,500 years old.
RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE
Cedar of Lebanon: revered by ancient peoples of the Holy Land; deodar: regarded as ‘tree of the gods’ by Hindus in India.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Classified on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 1998: C. libani and C. atlantica: ‘lower risk/least concern’; C. brevifolia ‘vulnerable’ (2011).
Cedars of the Lord, al Arz ar Rab, in the Bcharré Valley in Lebanon.
To many people, the cedars reign supreme among the conifers, unequalled for their majestic form and their aura of great antiquity. Whether at home in their native lands, or gracing the lawns of distinguished country houses, cedars stand out, seemingly timeless and immortal.
The pale blue-green leaves of an Atlantic cedar.
Many different conifers with dark, scented wood have been called ‘cedars’ in an attempt to classify them. In North America we find, among others, the western and eastern red cedars, and the incense and Alaskan cedars. In the Far East, the Chinese cedar and Japanese red cedar are two more species with misleading common names. There are, in fact, only four true cedars. Three of these are native to the Mediterranean region, while the fourth comes from the western Himalayas.
As its name suggests, the cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) is indigenous to Lebanon, but also to Syria and the Taurus Mountains of Turkey. Cedrus brevifolia is found only on the island of Cyprus, where it has a very restricted habitat – a few valleys on the western side of the Troodos Mountains. The Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) is a native tree of the Atlas Mountains in Algeria and Morocco, while the deodar (Cedrus deodara) grows naturally in the Himalayan region stretching from Pakistan and Afghanistan across northern India to western Nepal.
All these cedars are closely related, so much so that the botanist and explorer Sir Joseph Hooker (1817–1911), who was director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew from 1865–85, thought that they should all be classified together as one species. Still, today, some botanists believe that the cedar found in Cyprus is only a geographical variation of the cedar of Lebanon. The main difference between the two species is the size of the needles: those of Cedrus brevifolia, as its name suggests, being slightly smaller than those of its neighbour on the mainland. In other respects, the trees are very similar.
Cedars are the trees that are most often mentioned in the Bible, and most of these references are to the famous and much celebrated cedars of Lebanon, known in that country simply as al Arz (the cedars), or al Arz ar Rab (the cedars of the Lord). It is not difficult to see why the peoples of the Bible lands, including the Israelites, should have held them in such high esteem and regarded them with reverence: cedars would certainly have been the most massive and noble trees with which they were acquainted and amongst the longest-lived. In the Bible, cedars are frequently used as symbols of might, power and dignity; of grandeur, prowess and glory; and of beauty and fruitfulness. In the Song of Songs, cedars are used to help evoke a fitting image of Christ himself: ‘His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars’ (Song of Solomon 5:15).
Cedars of the slopes of Mount Lebanon, which in biblical times was clothed in extensive cedar forest.
An ancient cedar of Lebanon displaying the horizontal branches that typify this species.
An ancient biblical myth tells of an angel who took refuge beneath a massive cedar tree during a terrible storm. After the storm had abated, the angel prayed to God that this tree, whose wood was so fragrant and whose shade was so refreshing, would also in the future bear some fruit that would be useful to the human race. This fruit, according to the myth, was the sacred body of Jesus Christ. Another biblical story tells of Seth, the son of Adam, planting a cutting from the Tree of Life on Adam’s grave. The cutting eventually grew into a tree with three branches: one of cypress wood, one of cedar and one of olive. The story relates that it was from this tree that the cross upon which Jesus was crucified was made.
A nineteenth-century illustration of a deodar grove near Simla, India.
Cedar wood is highly prized both for construction and for the production of artefacts and souvenirs.
Some 4,000km (2,500 miles) away to the east, the equally majestic deodar engendered similar feelings among the Hindu peoples of north-west India’s Himalayan region. The name ‘deodar’ is derived from the Sanskrit devadaru or deodaru, and means literally ‘tree of the gods’. The Himalayas, whose glaciers are the source of the sacred River Ganges, are said to be the home of the Hindu gods and some of their most sacred shrines are found here. The Indian god Shiva, his wife Parva and Vishnu the Preserver are all believed to live in this breathtakingly beautiful region.
Botanists distinguish four species of cedar, though some believe that Cedrus brevifolia, found only on Cyprus, may simply be a variant of the cedar of Lebanon.
Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature; … the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.
EZEKIEL (31:3, 8–9)
Large cedar of Lebanon trees have become a rare sight across their native range. The largest natural stands are now to be found in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey.
The Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, in which extensive deodar forests are still to be found, contains India’s highest mountain peaks. Forming what are often regarded as some of the most majestic of the world’s forests, the deodar extends from parts of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan in the west through Kashmir in India to western Nepal. It grows in areas of the outer Himalayas where the full strength of the monsoon is felt, in the intermediate ranges and valleys, and also in arid zones deep within the Himalayas. The hardy deodar has colonized the middle slopes of some of the highest mountain ranges in the world. Throughout this region this stately tree has long been esteemed (like its cousins in Lebanon and Turkey, and in North Africa) for its vigour and beauty and for the great size and age it can reach. To Hindus, the deodar is considered divine.
The Hebrew words for cedar, erez or ahrahzim, used in the Bible, are derived from an old Arabic term meaning ‘firmly rooted and strong tree’, and this expression could well be used to describe all the cedar species, especially when they reach maturity. While still young, cedars are roughly pyramidal in shape, but as they mature – after about 100 years – and if given the space, their tops flatten out and the branches take on a characteristic horizontal form, becoming large and wide-spreading. The results are impressive and beautiful, as they ‘strike their splendid attitudes, forming black plateaux … spreading a black table against the sky’, as Hugh Johnson noted in his Encylopedia of Trees.
Few conifers are as graceful or elegant as the deodar, with its pendulous outer shoots, especially when it is young. Although it may develop the flat, spreading top of the Lebanon and Atlas cedars, it generally grows with a straight trunk, in the form of a slender spire. In the wild, its arched leading shoots assist the deodar in growing up through overhead branches of the forest understorey to become a dominant tree. The graceful pyramidal shape that the tree can maintain into maturity, and its weeping-tipped branches, make it easier to distinguish from other cedars. It also differs from the Lebanon and Atlas cedars by having longer needles, and young twigs that are distinctly more downy. The deodar is often, too, a taller tree than the other cedars, reaching some 76m (250ft) in the wild and with a girth of some 13.7m (45ft). Tree-ring analysis of a deodar in Lahaul, Himachal Pradesh, India, suggests that it is over 1,500 years old.
The majestic cedar of Lebanon tends to grow in coppice formation, sending up several gigantic trunks from the base at ground level, with enormous branches attached. It may reach some 39.6m (130ft) in height and achieve a diameter of around 4m (13ft). According to dendrologist Alan Mitchell (1922–95), the volume of timber contained in an ancient, large-branched, multi-stemmed specimen is comparable to that of ‘the best coast redwoods and perhaps the giant sequoia’.
Growing in the wild in the country from which they have taken their popular name, the oldest cedars of Lebanon may be 3,000 years old, although cedar expert Dr Sawsan Khuri believes them to be around 1,000 years old. According to tree enthusiast Thomas Pakenham, the ‘gnarled and tormented trees’ he encountered in Turkey in 1993, which were reported to be older than those in Lebanon, were up to 1,000 years old. Since the largest trees (in the Lebanon) are hollow, exact calculations of their age are difficult to make. The largest deodars and Atlas cedars may also be around 1,000 years old.
Fragrant oils
The cedars are well known for the fragrant oils contained within their wood, which have been put to many different uses. With its warm, spicy fragrance, the oil that is extracted from the deodar is very popular in India and is used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine to treat fevers and pulmonary and urinary disorders, among other maladies. In modern aromatherapy it is used for dermatitis, hair loss and nervous tension, and it is said to enhance meditative relaxation and relieve stress.
The egg-shaped cones of an Atlantic cedar.
It is not just the beauty and longevity of the cedars that singled them out for special attention in antiquity. Their fragrant wood was greatly prized for its remarkable durability, the ease with which it could be worked, and the enormous size of the timbers that could be cut from it.
‘The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.’
PSALMS (92:12)
The deodar’s timber is the strongest of those produced by the conifers native to India, and one of the country’s most important timber trees. The fragrant oil present in its wood (which turns yellowish-brown after cutting) has given it a special durability and resistance to attack by termites. It was for these reasons that it was sought after in India in ancient times for temple construction. More recently, it was used extensively for railway sleepers and as construction timber for beams, flooring, posts, door and window frames, furniture and carved sacred icons, as well as for bridges, vehicle bodies, masts and spars.
The cedar of Lebanon, meanwhile, was also widely utilized over a large geographical area. It was used by the Mesopotamians, whose civilization flourished some 4,000 years before the birth of Christ; by the ancient kings of Assyria (from about 2500 BC); and by the rulers of neighbouring countries, especially for building and embellishing their palaces. Egyptian builders are said to have imported the wood before 3000 BC – some of it for carving figures and for making sarcophagi. The oily nature of the wood meant that it was preferred to other woods because it deterred attack by insects (and perhaps stopped them from disturbing the dead). Famous sea-faring peoples, including the Phoenicians and Venetians, were also to make extensive use of cedar wood for their navies.
But perhaps the most famous use of cedar of Lebanon wood was for the construction of King Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. The third king of Israel, King Solomon (c.1015–977 BC) built his temple and royal palaces on a magnificent scale. Other great buildings, as well as ‘a chariot of the wood of Lebanon’ (Song of Solomon 3:9) were also constructed for this great king. The Bible records that Solomon sent a letter to King Hiram of Tyre (today known as Soûr, a port in south-west Lebanon) requesting him to: ‘Do business with me as you did with my father, King David, when you sold him cedar logs for building his palace. I am building a temple to honour the Lord my God …’ (2 Chronicles 2:3–4).
In order to do this, Solomon sent over 180,000 men to cut down the trees and prepare the timber, to carry the provisions necessary, and to oversee the work. In addition, King Hiram supplied thousands of his own men to help in the felling of the trees. It was to take seven years of arduous work to complete the temple and 13 more to build Solomon’s private house. King Solomon also built the ‘house of the Forest of Lebanon’, the great Porch of Judgement, and a house for his favourite wife – largely of cedar wood. Descriptions of the size of the temple alone, which was 27m (88½ft) long and 9m (29½ft) wide, and had an entrance room that was 54m (177ft) high, give a good idea of the enormous quantities of cedar wood that must have been involved: ‘The walls, the floor and the ceiling were built of cedar boards, and the inside walls were covered with panels of cedar … the cedar panels were decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers; the whole interior was covered with cedar, so that no stone could be seen’ (I Kings 6:15–18).
It is evident that vast forests of Lebanon cedars once existed, and it is known that they formerly extended in a continuous belt from southern Lebanon to the Taurus Mountains of Turkey. However, the continuous onslaught against them for their timber, over several thousand years, has left them drastically reduced.
The regeneration of cedar forests in Lebanon has been hampered by the grazing of goats and the development of ski resorts.
Cedar trees were highly prized in the Middle East in ancient times. Vast numbers were reputedly used in the construction of King Solomon’s temple.
The world’s largest and most intact Cedrus libani forest is located in the Taurus Mountains of south-east Turkey. The forest covers nearly 90,000 ha. (347 sq. miles) and is part of what is considered to be the Mediterranean’s most diverse ecosystem, including around 950 flowering plant species, and remote habitats for some of Eurasia’s most endangered animals, such as the brown bear (Ursus arctos), grey wolf (Canis lupus), lynx (Lynx lynx) and caracal (Caracal caracal), as well as the critically endangered Anatolian leopard (Panthera pardus subsp. tulliana). In Lebanon, several cedar reserves have been created, but only remnants of the ancient forests remain. These reserves are situated in a few valleys of the Lebanon Mountain range, by far the largest being the Shouf Cedar Nature Reserve in the mountains south-east of Beirut, which holds one quarter of Lebanon’s cedars and where a project to plant 100,000 seedlings has been underway for several years. The most famous grove of ancient cedars, comprising only about 400 trees and known as the Cedars of God, is situated at about 1,890m (6,200ft), near Bcharré on the slopes of the Mount Lebanon range. The youngest big tree in this grove is said to be about 200 years old, while estimates range from 1,000 to 3,000 years for the dozen or so oldest individuals. Other small cedar forests are also to be found at Tannourine, south of Jabal Aïtou, and north of Jabal Qaraqif.
The sad decline of Lebanon’s cedars has been a source of great concern to many. Exacerbating the problem over long periods of time were goats, which by browsing on cedar seedlings prevented any useful regeneration of the trees. In 1876, Queen Victoria (1819–1901) was so moved by the cedars’ plight that she paid for a wall to be erected around the Cedars of God grove, in order to protect it from goats. Measures were also taken more recently to keep out grazing animals, and it is reported that stands of cedars have now begun to regenerate slowly. A much more recent threat, from a more unexpected quarter, has come from the activity of skiers, whose presence near the town of Bcharré has similarly been damaging the regenerating trees. Cedars are not difficult to grow from seed, however, and there are a large number of nurseries in Lebanon producing cedar seedlings for reforestation. Extensive replanting has also been taking place in Turkey in recent times. Unfortunately, there is some fear that global climate change could affect the growth of young cedars – through a lack of snow and a possible increase in diseases and insect infections caused by higher temperatures.
Though also extensively used in the past, and still an important timber tree in India, the deodar has fared better than the cedar of Lebanon in terms of survival, and large areas of natural forest still exist. Although deodars are often found growing amid a mixture of other trees, both broad-leaved and coniferous, they are gregarious in habit and often form pure forests. In some regions, however, such as Kashmir, organized smuggling operations have been decimating deodar forests. In the Khag-Tangmarg area, local village forest committees have been forced to defend their forests from brutal armed timber smugglers by keeping vigil throughout the night.
In Pakistan and the Indian states of Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, a spectacular but now endangered bird, the western tragopan (a short-tailed pheasant), has been found to live only in the upper reaches of the deodar forests. With its eye-catching plumage (the male’s brilliant red neck, wattle and eye patches contrasting with its reddish-brown and black feathers, which are speckled with white), this beautiful bird – itself an object of reverence – is a fitting guardian of these ‘trees of the gods’.
