{{Short description|Genus of plants (coniferous trees)}} {{good article}} {{Redirect|Cedar (genus)|other trees with the name|List of plants known as cedar}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Cedar | oldest_fossil = Albian | image = View from the Barouk Forest 1.JPG | image_alt = Lebanon cedars | image_caption = Lebanon cedar in Al Shouf Cedar Nature Reserve in Barouk, Lebanon | taxon = Cedrus | authority = Trew | type_species = ''Pinus cedrus'' L., = ''Cedrus libani''<ref>{{cite web |title=''Cedrus'' |website=International Plant Names Index |url=https://www.ipni.org/n/331120-2 |access-date=2025-12-10}}</ref> | type_species_authority = A.Rich. | subdivision_ranks = Species{{efn|See text for discussion of species-level taxonomy.}} | subdivision = *''Cedrus atlantica'' {{small|(Endl.) G.Manetti ex Carrière}} *''Cedrus deodara'' {{small|(Roxb. ex D.Don) G.Don}} *''Cedrus libani'' {{small|A.Rich.}} | subdivision_ref = <ref>{{cite web |title=''Cedrus'' Trew |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:331120-2 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=20 March 2026}}</ref> }}
'''''Cedrus''''', with the common English name '''cedar''', is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae (subfamily Abietoideae). They are native to the mountains of the western Himalayas and the Mediterranean region at high altitudes. The trees grow tall with a cylindrical trunk and a wide leafy crown. The cones are erect; the leaves grow in tufts of 15–45 needle leaves, which can be bright green or blue-green with a waxy coat. When the cones are mature, they disintegrate to release the seeds, which are winged. Both pollen and seeds are wind-dispersed.
Cedars are often planted as ornamental trees in parks and large gardens, while others are grown as bonsai. Cedar wood and cedarwood oil are naturally repellent to moths, and have an attractive, long-persistent scent.
== Etymology ==
The English name derives from Old English ''ceder'', from Latin ''cedrus'', used for the genus. This in turn is derived from Greek κέδρος ''kédros'', meaning cedar or juniper.<ref name="Online Etym">{{cite web |title=cedar (n.) |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/cedar |publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=23 September 2025}}</ref> Species of both trees are native to the area where Greek language and culture originated, though as the word ''kédros'' does not seem to be derived from any of the languages of the Middle East, it has been suggested the word may originally have applied to Greek species of juniper and was later adopted for species now classified in the genus ''Cedrus'' because of their aromatic woods.<ref>{{cite book |last=Meiggs |first=R. |year=1982 |chapter=The Cedars of Lebanon |title=Trees and Timber in the Ancient Mediterranean World |pages=49–87}}</ref> The name was similarly applied to citron: the word citrus is derived from the same root.<ref name="Andrews 1961">{{cite journal |last=Andrews |first=A. C. |year=1961 |title=Acclimatization of citrus fruits in the Mediterranean region |journal=Agricultural History |issue=35 |pages=35–46}}</ref> As a loan word in English, cedar had become fixed to its biblical sense of ''Cedrus'' by the time of its first recorded usage in 1000 CE.<ref name=oed>{{cite dictionary |entry=Cedar |dictionary=Oxford English Dictionary |entry-url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/cedar_n |access-date=23 September 2025}}</ref>
== Description ==
=== Habit ===
Cedars are tall resinous trees growing to {{convert|30|–|40|m|ft|-1}} tall, rarely to {{cvt|65|m}},<ref name=farjon/> with a cylindrical trunk and a narrow to wide crown, conical when young but often becoming irregular with age. In some individuals, several main branches may eventually rival the main trunk in size.<ref name="Gymnosperm Database"/> The bark is pale grey-brown and smooth in young trees, dark grey-brown to blackish and splitting into ridges and scales on older trees.<ref name="Gymnosperm Database"/>
<gallery class=center mode=nolines widths=180 heights=180> File:Cedrus deodara 1233 (cropped).jpg|Bark on a young deodar File:Cedro del Libano - dettaglio - corteccia.jpg|Bark on a mature Lebanon cedar </gallery>
=== Foliage ===
The shoots are dimorphic, made up of long thin leading shoots from terminal buds, each one accompanied by multiple short lateral shoots.<ref name="Gymnosperm Database"/> The leaves are evergreen and needle-like, {{convert|8–60|mm|frac=4}} 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 drying out.<ref name=farjon/>
<gallery class=center mode=nolines widths=180 heights=180> Cedrus deodara 'Golden Horizon' 2019-05-17 02.jpg|Deodar foliage in spring File:Cedrus libani shoot.jpg|Foliage of Lebanon cedar, showing long shoots with widely spaced needles, and short shoots with densely packed needles </gallery>
=== Cones ===
Cedars are monoecious, with separate male and female cones on the same tree.<ref name="Gymnosperm Database">{{cite web |title=Cedrus: Trew 1757 |url=https://conifers.org/pi/Cedrus.php |website=The Gymnosperm Database |access-date=24 September 2025}}</ref> The seed cones are barrel-shaped, {{convert|6–12|cm|frac=4}} long and 3–8 cm broad, green maturing grey-brown, and, as in ''Abies'', disintegrate at maturity to release the winged seeds. The seeds are {{convert|10–15|mm|abbr=on|frac=8}} long, with a 20–30 mm wing; as in ''Abies'', the seeds have two or three resin blisters, containing an unpleasant-tasting resin, thought to be a defence against squirrel predation. Cone maturation takes one year, with pollination in autumn and the seeds maturing at the same time a year later. The pollen cones are slender ovoid, 3–8 cm long, produced in late summer, and shed pollen in autumn.<ref name=farjon/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Frankis |first1=M. |last2=Lauria |first2=F. |year=1994 |chapter=The maturation and dispersal of cedar cones and seeds |title=International Dendrology Society Yearbook 1993 |pages=43–46}}</ref>
<gallery class=center mode=nolines widths=180 heights=180> File:Zürich - Bürkliplatz IMG 1163.JPG|Female (seed) cones of Lebanon cedar File:Cedrus libani cone, Sète cf01.jpg|Immature male (pollen) cone of Lebanon cedar File:Cedar male cones shedding pollen.JPG|Pollen cone of deodar cedar, shedding pollen in the wind </gallery>
== Evolution ==
=== Fossil history ===
The oldest fossil of ''Cedrus'' is ''Cedrus penzhinaensis'' known from fossil wood found in Early Cretaceous (Albian) sediments of Kamchatka, Russia.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Blokhina |first1=N. I. |last2=Afonin |first2=M. |date=2007 |title=Fossil wood Cedrus penzhinaensis sp. nov. (Pinaceae) from the Lower Cretaceous of north-western Kamchatka (Russia) |journal=Acta Paleobotanica |volume=47 |pages=379–389 |s2cid=54653621 |url=https://www.biosoil.ru/storage/entities/publication/6069/00006069.pdf}}</ref> An Early Miocene species, ''Cedrus anatolica'', also from petrified wood and thought to be close to ''C. atlantica'', is known from Turkey.<ref name="Akkemik 2021">{{cite journal |last=Akkemik |first=Ünal |title=A new fossil Cedrus species from the early Miocene of northwestern Turkey and its possible affinities |journal=Palaeoworld |volume=30 |issue=4 |date=2021 |doi=10.1016/j.palwor.2020.12.003 |pages=746–756}}</ref>
=== Phylogeny ===
Cedars have a similar cone structure to firs (''Abies'') and were traditionally thought to be most closely related to them, but genetic evidence indicates that they are instead sister to all other lineages in the subfamily Abietoideae.<ref name="Ran">{{cite journal | last1=Ran | first1=Jin-Hua | last2=Shen | first2=Ting-Ting | last3=Wu | first3=Hui | last4=Gong | first4=Xun | last5=Wang | first5=Xiao-Quan | title=Phylogeny and evolutionary history of Pinaceae updated by transcriptomic analysis | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=129 | date=2018 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2018.08.011 | pages=106–116 | url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1055790318301246 | access-date=2025-11-12| url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Gernandt">{{cite journal | last1=Gernandt | first1=David S. | last2=Magallón | first2=Susana | last3=Geada López | first3=Gretel | last4=Zerón Flores | first4=Omar | last5=Willyard | first5=Ann | last6=Liston | first6=Aaron | title=Use of Simultaneous Analyses to Guide Fossil‐Based Calibrations of Pinaceae Phylogeny | journal=International Journal of Plant Sciences | volume=169 | issue=8 | date=2008 | issn=1058-5893 | doi=10.1086/590472 | doi-access=free | pages=1086–1099 | url=https://rc.upr.edu.cu/jspui/bitstream/DICT/2584/1/Geada-LopezIJPS2008.pdf | access-date=2025-11-12}}</ref><ref name=Stull>{{Cite journal |last1=Stull |first1=Gregory W. |last2=Qu |first2=Xiao-Jian |last3=Parins-Fukuchi |first3=Caroline |last4=Yang |first4=Ying-Ying |last5=Yang |first5=Jun-Bo |last6=Yang |first6=Zhi-Yun |last7=Hu |first7=Yi |last8=Ma |first8=Hong |last9=Soltis |first9=Pamela S. |last10=Soltis |first10=Douglas E. |last11=Li |first11=De-Zhu |display-authors=5 |date=19 July 2021 |title=Gene duplications and phylogenomic conflict underlie major pulses of phenotypic evolution in gymnosperms |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-021-00964-4 |journal=Nature Plants |volume=7 |issue=8 |pages=1015–1025 |doi=10.1038/s41477-021-00964-4 |pmid=34282286 |bibcode=2021NatPl...7.1015S |s2cid=236141481 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
{{clade |label1=Pinaceae |1={{clade |label1=Abietoideae |sublabel1=(firs and allies) |1={{clade |label1=Cedreae |1='''''Cedrus''''' 50px |2={{clade |label1=Pseudolariceae |1={{clade |sublabel1=(golden larches)|label1=''Pseudolarix'' |1=70px |2={{clade |label1=''Nothotsuga'' |1=70px |sublabel2=(hemlocks) |label2=''Tsuga'' |2=50px }} }} |label2=Abieteae |2={{clade |label1=''Keteleeria'' |1=65px |sublabel2=(firs) |label2=''Abies'' |2=50px }} }} }} |label2=Pinoideae |sublabel2=(pines, larches, etc) |2=50px }} }}
=== Taxonomy and internal phylogeny ===
[[File:Christoph Jakob Trew - Plantae selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini - 1765 - 061.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Plate "{{lang|la|CEDRUS foliis rigidis acutis perennantibus, conis subrotundis erectis}}" (Cedar with sharp rigid perennial leaves, subrotund erect cones) from Christoph Jacob Trew's description of the genus in his 1757 ''Plantae Selectae Quarum Imagines'']]
The genus ''Cedrus'' was described by the German botanist Christoph Jacob Trew in his ''Plantae Selectae Quarum Imagines'' in 1757.<ref name="Gymnosperm Database"/> The ''Cedrus'' taxa are assigned according to taxonomic opinion to between one and four species.<ref name="Gymnosperm Database"/><ref name="NCBI">{{cite web |website=NCBI Taxonomy Browser |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Tree&id=3321&lvl=3&p=mapview&p=has_linkout&p=blast_url&p=genome_blast&lin=f&keep=1&srchmode=1&unlock |title=Cedrus}}</ref><ref name="Flora of China">{{cite web |website=Flora of China |title=Cedrus |url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=105979 |volume=4}}</ref><ref name="Qiao 2007">{{cite journal |last1=Qiao |first1=C.-Y. |last2=Ran |first2=Jin-Hua |last3=Li |first3=Yan |last4=Wang |first4=Xiao-Quan |year=2007 |title=Phylogeny and Biogeography of ''Cedrus'' (Pinaceae) Inferred from Sequences of Seven Paternal Chloroplast and Maternal Mitochondrial DNA Regions |journal=Annals of Botany |volume=100 |issue=3 |pages=573–580 |doi=10.1093/aob/mcm134 |pmid=17611189 |pmc=2533594 |url=https://academic.oup.com/aob/article-pdf/100/3/573/392600/mcm134.pdf}}</ref> The deodar cedar is sister to the Mediterranean cedars. The Cyprus cedar for example is variously considered to be a variety or subspecies of ''Cedrus libani'', or a species ''C. brevifolia'' in its own right;<ref name = powo>{{cite web |title=''Cedrus libani'' var. ''brevifolia'' Hook.f. |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77303993-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=27 August 2024}}</ref> some evidence from allozymes suggests it may even be embedded within the range of variation in the Turkish cedar.<ref name="h070">{{cite journal |last=Scaltsoyiannes |first=A. |year=1999 | title=Allozyme Differentiation and Phylogeny of Cedar Species |journal=Silvae Genetica |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=61–68 | url=https://www.thuenen.de/media/institute/fg/PDF/Silvae_Genetica/1999/Vol._48_Heft_2/48_2_61.pdf | access-date=2025-11-12}}</ref> Divergence ages are marked on the cladogram.<ref name="Qiao 2007"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fady |first1=B. |display-authors=etal |year=2003 |title=Gene flow among different taxonomic units: evidence from nuclear and cytoplasmic markers in Cedrus plantation forests |journal=Theoretical and Applied Genetics |volume=107 |issue=6 |pages=1132–1138 |doi=10.1007/s00122-003-1323-z |pmid=14523524 |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/50813193/Gene_flow_among_different_taxonomic_unit20161210-16449-11zkbkx.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dagher-Kharrat |first1=M. B. |display-authors=etal |year=2007 |title=Geographical diversity and genetic relationships among Cedrus species estimated by AFLP |journal=Tree Genetics & Genomes |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=275–285 |doi=10.1007/s11295-006-0065-x |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/91843349/s11295-006-0065-x.pdf}}</ref>
{{clade |label1='''''Cedrus''''' |sublabel1=55 mya |1={{clade |label1=''Cedrus deodara'' |1=100px Deodar cedar, western Himalaya |sublabel2=19 mya |label2=Mediterranean cedars |2={{clade |label1=''Cedrus atlantica'' |1=100px Atlas cedar, Atlas Mountains in Morocco and Algeria |sublabel2=6.5 mya |label2=''Cedrus libani'' |2={{clade |1=var ''libani'' 100px Lebanon cedar, mountains in Lebanon and Syria |2={{clade |1=var ''stenocoma'' 100px Turkish cedar, Turkey |2=var ''brevifolia'' 100px Cyprus cedar, Troodos Mountains in Cyprus }} }} }} }} }}
The species cannot hybridise in nature due to their geographical separation, but when brought together in cultivation, they do so freely. However, because cedars (particularly between the Mediterranean taxa) are so similar to each other, hybrids are notoriously difficult to detect and identify. Hybrids between Atlas and Deodar cedars have been deliberately bred by the Tesi nursery in northern Italy since the 1980s, and were named in 2021 as the cultivar group ''Cedrus'' Tesi Group.<ref>{{cite journal | journal=International Dendrology Society Yearbook |last=Christian |first=Tom | title=''Cedrus'' Tesi Group | date=2021 |volume=2020 |pages=114–116 }}</ref><ref name="Tesi">{{cite web |last=Christian |first=Tom | title=''Cedrus'' Tesi Group | website=Trees and Shrubs Online | date=2025-11-11 | url=https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cedrus/cedrus-tesi-group/ | access-date=2025-11-12}}</ref>
== Distribution and ecology ==
thumb|upright=2|World distribution of all ''Cedrus'' species
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.<ref name=farjon/> They are native to the mountains of the western Himalayas and the Mediterranean region, occurring at altitudes of {{convert|1500-3200|m|abbr=on}} in the Himalayas and {{convert|1000-2200|m|abbr=on}} in the Mediterranean.<ref name=farjon>{{cite book |last=Farjon |first=Aljos |author-link=Aljos Farjon |year=1990 |chapter=Cedrus |title=Pinaceae: Drawings and Descriptions of the Genera |publisher=Koeltz Scientific Books |isbn=3-87429-298-3 |pages=111–121}}</ref> In Lebanon, a small number of cedars of Lebanon survive in protected areas including the Cedars of God near the Qadisha Valley, a World Heritage Site.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Centre |first=UNESCO World Heritage |title=UNESCO World Heritage Committee Adds 30 Sites to World Heritage List |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/164/ |access-date=2023-08-01 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre}}</ref>
Fungal diseases of cedars include canker; collar, crown, and root rot; needle blight; ''Gymnosporangium'' rusts;<ref name="UCIPM"/> and sirococcus blight, caused by ''Sirococcus tsugae'', which kills shoots and branches.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sirococcus tsugae |url=https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/tree-pests-and-diseases/key-tree-pests-and-diseases/sirococcus-tsugae/ |publisher=Woodland Trust |access-date=24 September 2025}}</ref> Cedar trees are robust but become vulnerable to bark beetles in drought conditions.<ref name="UCIPM">{{cite web |title=How to Manage Pests: Cedar-Cedrus spp. |url=https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/cedar.html |publisher=University of California Agriculture & Natural Resources |access-date=24 September 2025}}</ref> Other pests include the giant conifer aphid, scale insects, and nematodes such as the pine wilt nematode.<ref name="UCIPM"/> Caterpillars of the pine processionary moth sometimes make their nests in cedars.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pine processionary moth (''Thaumetopoea pityocampa'') |url=https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/pest-and-disease-resources/pine-processionary-moth-thaumetopoea-pityocampa/ |publisher=Forest Research |access-date=24 September 2025}}</ref>
== Uses ==
{{See also|Cedar Forest}}
Cedars have long been highly valued for their scented, durable, and decay-resistant wood, being in demand for building temples and palaces for over 4,000 years from the period of the Epic of Gilgamesh onwards, the longest record of any conifer in human use.<ref name="Gymnosperm Database"/> Cultivation of cedars for their wood has an equally long history, with recent genetic and environment studies corroborating local oral mythology and Hittite cuneiform text records that two small geographically isolated populations of Lebanon cedar in northern Anatolia 500 km north of its main native area are of human origin, deliberately planted over 3,200 years ago for cedar wood supply to the nearby capital of the Hittite Empire at Hattusa.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Özcan | first1=Ali Uğur | last2=Çiçek | first2=Kerim | title=How long do we think humans have been planting forests? A case study with ''Cedrus libani'' A.Rich | journal=New Forests | volume=54 | issue=1 | date=2023 | issn=0169-4286 | doi=10.1007/s11056-021-09900-y | pages=49–65 | url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11056-021-09900-y | access-date=2025-11-12| url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Cedars are popular ornamental trees and are often cultivated in temperate climates where winter temperatures do not fall below −25 °C. The Turkish cedar is slightly hardier, to −30 °C or just below. Extensive mortality of planted specimens can occur in severe winters when temperatures fall lower.<ref name=odum>Ødum, S. (1985). "Report on frost damage to trees in Denmark after the severe 1981/82 and 1984/85 winters". Hørsholm Arboretum, Denmark.</ref> Cedars are suitable for training as bonsai in varied styles.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Walston|first1=Brent|title=Cedars for Bonsai|url=https://www.evergreengardenworks.com/cedars.htm|website=evergreengardenworks.com|access-date=8 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529033650/http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/cedars.htm|archive-date=29 May 2015}}</ref> Cedar wood and cedarwood oil are naturally repellent to moths.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Burfield|first1=Tony|title=Cedarwood Oils|url=http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~nodice/new/magazine/cedar/cedar.htm|website=www.users.globalnet.co.uk|access-date=24 August 2016|date=September 2002}}</ref>
<gallery class=center mode=nolines widths=220 heights=140><!--landscape--> File:Jageshwar Temple Complex Tree.jpg|Large deodar cedar in Jageshwar temple at Almora, Uttarakhand in the Himalayas File:Chiswick House 02.jpg|Formally planted ornamental cedars at Chiswick House, London. File:Cedrus atlantica-Glauca-Bonsai (cropped).jpg|Glaucous Atlas cedar<br/>trained as a bonsai </gallery>
<gallery class=center mode=nolines widths=140 heights=220><!--portrait--> File:Cedrus wood.jpg|Cedar wood has a strong sweet spicy-resinous scent, and a distinctive colour and grain. File:2024-04-26 13 10 35 A recently-cut Atlas Cedar branch on the Douglass Campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey.jpg|Freshly cut cedar wood has yellowish sapwood and orange-brown heartwood, and exudes strongly scented resin. File:KV43-ArmPanelFromAChairSide1 MetropolitanMuseumOfArt.png|Cedar wood panel from the reign of Thutmose IV, circa 1400-1391 B.C. </gallery>
== See also ==
* List of plants known as cedar
== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}
== External links ==
{{Commons category|Cedrus}}
{{Acrogymnospermae classification}} {{Plant classification}} {{Woodworking}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q128550}} {{Authority control}} Category:Cedrus Category:Conifer genera Category:Ornamental trees Category:Plants used in bonsai Category:Wood