Cedrus deodara

COMMON NAME: Deodar Cedar

FAMILY: Pinaceae

GROWTH HABIT: Tree to 40 - 70 ft. but can be large, up to 200 ft. Broadly pyramidal when young with gracefully pendulous branches, becoming wide spread and flat-topped in old age.

FOLIAGE: Evergreen. Height blue or grayish green. 1 -1 1/2 in. long, needle-like, 15- 20 per whorl. Sharply pointed, on long shoots borne singly and spirally around the stem.

BUDS: Minute, ovoid, with brown scales which remain on the shoots after the appearance of young leaves.

FLOWERS:Monecious, male cones very densely set, erect, finger-shaped 2 - 3 in. long, 1/2 - 5/8 in. wide, shedding clouds of yellow pollen in fall; female borne in stout, erect cones, purplish initially, usually in the upper parts of the tree.

FRUIT: Cones. Solitary to two together on short branchlets, ovoid or oblong ovoid, 3 - 4 in. long by approximately 2 in. broad; apex rounded, bluish, blooms when young turning reddish brown at maturity.

NATIVE HABITAT: Algeria and Morocco on the Atlas Mountains.