The Abies Cedrus or Cedrus Libani, the far-famed Cedar of Lebanon, is a tree which, on account of its beauty, stateliness, and strength, has always been a favourite with poets and painters; and which, in the figurative language of prophecy, is frequently employed in the Scriptures as a symbol of power, prosperity, and longevity. It grows to a vertical height of from 50 to 80 feet—“exalted above all trees of the field,” and at an elevation of about 6000 feet above sea-level. In the young tree, the bole is straight and upright, and one or two leading branches rise above the rest. As the tree increases in size, however, the upper branches become mingled together, and the tree is then clump-headed. Numerous lateral ramifying branches spread out from the main trunk in a horizontal direction, tier upon tier, covering a compass of ground the diameter of which is often greater than the height of the tree. Gilpin, in his Forest Scenery, describes a cedar which, at an age of about 118 years, had attained to a height of 53 feet, and had a horizontal expanse of 96 feet. The branchlets of the cedar take the same direction as the branches, and the foliage is very dense and close-woven. The tree, as with the rest of the fir-tribe, except the larch, is evergreen; the leaves are renewed every spring, but their fall is gradual. In shape the leaves are straight, tapering, cylindrical, and pointed; they are about an inch long, and of a dark green colour, and grow in alternate tufts of about thirty in number. The male and female flowers grow on the same tree, but are separate. The cones, which are on the upper side of the branches, are flattened at the ends, and are 4 or 5 inches in length, and 2 inches wide; they take two years to come to perfection, and while growing exude much resin. The scales are close pressed to one another, and are reddish in colour. The seeds are provided with a long membranous wing. The root of the tree is very strong, and ramifying. The cedar flourishes best on sandy loamy soils. It still grows on Lebanon, eleven groves having been described by the American missionary Jessup; and probably is to be found over the whole group of mountains lying between Damascus and Tripoli in Syria, which comprehends, besides Lebanon, the Mounts Taurus and Amanus of the ancients. Lamartine tells us that the Arabs regard the trees as endowed with the principles of continual existence, and with reasoning and prescient powers, which enable them to prepare for the changes of the seasons. The best known group in the Lebanon range consists of twelve very ancient trees amidst a grove of about 400 younger ones—apparently the yellow cedars spoken of by Lamartine. They occupy little knolls in the Jebel-el Arz, a recess or hollow near the highest point of the mountains, about 15 miles from the sea. One tree on the southern side has a circumference of 42 feet at its base. Lord Lindsay mentions two other cedars on the northern edge of the grove, one 63, and another 49 feet in girth. The number of the trees has been slowly decreasing since 1550, when Belon counted twenty-eight of them; nearly 200 years later, when Dr Pococke visited Syria, only 15 were to be seen. The wood of the cedar of Lebanon is fragrant, though not so strongly scented as that of the juniper or red-cedar of America. It appears that the wood may be hard in portions, and sufficiently close-grained and compact to be carved,—the fibre in mountain-cedars being finer than in those grown on plains. The wood is, however, generally described as a reddish-white light material, of a coarse grain and spongy texture, easy to work, but liable to shrink and warp. Dr Pococke affirms that it does not differ in appearance from white deal, nor does it seem to be harder. As a firewood, it is said to be inferior, burning quickly and evolving but little heat.

The cedar of Lebanon is cultivated in Europe for ornament only. It can be grown in parks and gardens, and thrives well; but the young plants are unable to bear great variations of temperature. According to Gilpin, the English cedar in its maturer age becomes shrivelled and deformed, the body increasing, whilst the limbs shrink. In the Botanic Gardens at Chelsea are two cedars, planted there in 1683, which have probably lived upwards of 200 years. At Caen Wood, Hampshire, are four trees which have been growing since 1756, and are as much as 100 feet in height. The first cedars in Scotland were planted at Hopetoun House in 1740; and the first one said to have been introduced into France was brought from England by Bernard de Jussieu in 1734, and placed in the Jardin des Plantes. Cedar-wood is earliest noticed in Leviticus xiv. 4, 6, where it is prescribed among the materials to be used for the cleansing of leprosy; but the wood there spoken of was probably that of the juniper. The term Eres (cedar) of Scripture does not apply strictly to one kind of plant, but was used indefinitely in ancient times, as is the word cedar at present The term arz is applied by the Arabs to the cedar of Lebanon, to the common pine-tree, and to the juniper; and certainly the “cedars” for masts, mentioned in Ezek. xxvii. 5, must have been pine-trees. It seems very probable that the fourscore thousand hewers employed by Solomon for cutting timber did not confine their operations simply to what would now be termed cedars and fir-trees. Dr Lindley considers that some of the cedar-trees sent by Hiram, king of Tyre, to Jerusalem may have been procured from Mount Atlas, and have been identical with the Callitris quadrù vαlυis, or arar-tree, the wood of which is hard and durable, and was much in request in former times for the building of temples. The timber-work of the roof of Cordova Cathedral, built eleven centuries ago, is composed of it. In the time of Vitruvius “cedars” were growing in Crete, Africa, and Syria. Pliny says that their wood was everlasting, and therefore images of the gods were made of it; he makes mention also of the oil of cedar, or cedrium., distilled from the wood, and used by the ancients for preserving their books from moths and damp: papyri anointed or rubbed with cedrium were on this account called cedrati libri. Drawers of cedar or chips of the wood are now employed to protect furs and woollen stuffs from injury by moths. Cedar-wood, however, is said by Dr Fleming to be injurious to natural history objects and to instruments placed in cabinets made of it, as the resinous matter of the wood becomes deposited upon them. Cedria, or cedar resin, is a substance similar to mastic, that flows from incisions in the tree; and cedar manna is a sweet exudation from its branches.

There are two sub-species or varieties of Abies Cedrus — Α. Deodara, the deodar, or “god tree” of the Himalayas, and Α. atlantica, of the Atlas range, North Africa. The deodar flourishes in all the higher mountains from Nepal up to Kashmir, at an elevation of from 5500 to 12,000 feet; on the peaks to the northern side of the Boorung Pass, it grows to a height of 60 to 70 feet before branching. The wood is close-grained, long-fibred, perfumed, and highly resinous, and resists the action of water. The foliage is of a grey-green, the leaves are slender, and the twigs are thinner than those of A. Cedrus. The tree is employed for a variety of useful purposes, especially in building. It is now much cultivated in England as an ornamental plant. A. atlantica has shorter and denser leaves than A. Cedrus; its wood also is hard, and more rapid in growth than is that of the ordinary cedar. It is found at an altitude above the sea of from 7000 to 9000 feet.

The name cedar is applied to a variety of trees. The Bermuda cedar (Juniperus bermudianà) and the red or American cedar (J. υirgiηiaηa) are both much used in joinery and in the manufacture of pencils; though other woods are now superseding them for pencil-making. The Japanese cedar (CryptomeriajaponicP) is a kind of cypress, the wood of which is very durable. Another species of cypress (Cupressus thyoiχles), found in swamps in the south of Ohio and Massachusetts, is known as the American white cedar. It has small leaves and fibrous bark, and is much used for making fences and coopers’ staves. The Spanish cedar is a name applied to the Juniperus thurifera, and also to another species, J. oxycedrus. The latter was much used by the Greeks for making images; and its empyreumatic oil, Huile de Cade, is used medicinally for skin-diseases. A species of cypress which has been naturalized in the neighbourhood of Cintra is known as the cedar of Goa. The order Cedrelaceoe (which is entirely distinct from the Conifers) includes, along with the mahoganies and other valuable timber trees, the Jamaica and the Australian red cedars. The cedar-wood of Guiana, used for making canoes, is a species of the Natural Order Amyridoeeoe, Idea altissima.

The importation of woods classed as cedars into Great Britain has been free from duty since 1866, when the imports were 5647 tons, valued at £59,224.

See Gordon’s Pindum; Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, Histoire du cèdre du Liban, Paris, 1838; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, vol. iv. pp. 2404-2432, London, 1839; Marquis de Chambray, Traité pratique des arbres résineux conifères, Paris, 1845; Dr J. D. Hunter, Nat. Hist. Review, Jan. 1862, pp. 11-18; Brandis, Forest Flora of N.W. and Central India, pp. 516-525; Lond., 1874.