''Cedrus atlantica'', the Atlas cedar, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of tree in the pine

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Pinaceae The Pinaceae (), or pine family, are conifer trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as Cedrus, cedars, firs, Tsuga, hemlocks, Pinyon_pine, piñons, larches, pines and spruces. The family is incl ...

, native to the

Rif The Rif (, ), also called Rif Mountains, is a geographic region in northern Morocco. It is bordered on the north by the Mediterranean Sea and Spain and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and is the homeland of the Rifians and the Jebala people ...

and

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. They separate the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around through M ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

( Middle Atlas, High Atlas), and to the

Tell Atlas The Tell Atlas (, Latn, ar, al-ʾaṭlas al-tlī) is a mountain chain over in length, belonging to the Atlas mountain ranges in North Africa, stretching mainly across northern Algeria, ending in north-eastern Morocco and north-western Tunisia. ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

.Gaussen, H. (1964). Genre ''Cedrus''. Les Formes Actuelles. ''Trav. Lab. For. Toulouse'' T2 V1 11: 295-320 A majority of the modern sourcesFarjon, A. (1990). ''Pinaceae. Drawings and Descriptions of the Genera''. Koeltz Scientific Books .Farjon, A. (2008). ''A Natural History of Conifers''. Timber Press . treat it as a distinct species ''Cedrus atlantica'', but some sources consider it a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of Lebanon cedar (''C. libani'' subsp. ''atlantica'').

Description

Fully grown, Atlas cedar is a large

coniferous Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

tree, (rarely 40 m) tall, with a trunk diameter of . It is very similar in all characters to the other varieties of Lebanon cedar; differences are hard to discern. The mean cone size tends to be somewhat smaller (although recorded to 12 cm, only rarely over 9 cm long, compared to up to 10 cm in ''C. brevifolia'', and 12 cm in ''C. libani''), though with considerable overlap (all can be as short as 6 cm). The ''Cedrus atlantica'' leaf length (10–25 mm) is similar that of ''C. libani'' subsp. ''stenocoma'', on average longer than ''C. brevifolia'' and shorter than ''C. libani'' subsp. ''libani'', but again with considerable overlap.Schwarz, O. (1944). Anatolica. ''Feddes Repertorium'' 54: 26-34.

Ecology

Atlas cedar form forests on mountainsides at , often in pure forests, or mixed with Algerian fir - ''Abies numidica'', ''

Juniperus oxycedrus ''Juniperus oxycedrus'', vernacularly called Cade, cade juniper, prickly juniper, prickly cedar, or sharp cedar, is a species of juniper, native across the Mediterranean region, growing on a variety of rocky sites from sea level. The specific ep ...

'', holm oak - ''Quercus ilex'', and '' Acer opalus''. These forests can provide

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

for the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

Barbary macaque The Barbary macaque (''Macaca sylvanus''), also known as Barbary ape, is a macaque species native to the Atlas Mountains of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, along with a small introduced population in Gibraltar. It is the type species of the genus ' ...

(''Macaca sylvanus''), a

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

that had a

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

ally much wider distribution in northern Morocco and Algeria. Currently, Morocco has the highest total surface of Atlas cedar in the world, and it forms vast forests in the humid zones of the country, around the Middle-Atlas range, the oriental and Northern High-Atlas range, and in the Western and Central Rif mountain range. The current total area is around 163,000 hectares, of which around 115,000 hectares (80%) are situated in the Middle-Atlas mountains. The species is in danger from human use, wood harvesting and fires. Data that go back to 1927 show higher number of Atlas cedars (more than 150,000 hectares) in the Middle-Atlas mountains only. The Rif mountains had one of the largest cedar forests in the past, but forests nowadays are much smaller, 15% of the total cedar forests in Morocco. Recently massive reforestation campaigns have taken place in the region of Ifrane Province. In Algeria, the Atlas cedar has been in significant decline. According to data from 1966 the species inhabited 23,000 hectares, forming forests around the Djurdjura Mountains in

Kabylie Kabylia or Kabylie (; in Kabyle language, Kabyle: Tamurt n leqbayel; in Tifinagh: ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵔⵜ ⵏ ⵍⴻⵇⴱⴰⵢⴻⵍ; ), meaning "Land of the Tribes" is a mountainous coastal region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kaby ...

and Aures Mountains. However, it is expected that it currently inhabits fewer than 15,000 hectares owing to extensive fires and human use.

Cultivation and uses

Landscape

''C. atlantica'' is common in cultivation as an

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

climates. In garden settings, often the glaucous forms are planted as ornamental trees, distinguished as the Glauca group, a

cultivar group A Group (previously cultivar-groupInternational Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, 4th edition (1969), 5th edition (1980) and 6th edition (1995)) is a formal category in the '' International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants'' (' ...

. Also, fastigiate, pendulous, and golden-leaf forms are in cultivation. The Atlas cedar is useful in cultivation because it is more tolerant of dry and hot conditions than most conifers. Many of the cultivated trees have glaucous (bluish) foliage, more downy shoots, and can have more leaves in each whorl; young trees in cultivation often have more ascending branches than many cultivated ''C. atlantica'' specimens.Walters, W. M. (1986). ''European Garden Flora'' Vol 1. . In the UK the following

cultivars A cultivar is a kind of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and which retains those traits when propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue cult ...

have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

(confirmed 2017): * ’Aurea' (golden Atlas cedar) * ’Glauca' (Glauca Group) * ’Glauca Pendula' (Glauca Group) An Atlas cedar is planted at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

South Lawn The South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C., is directly south of the house and is bordered on the east by East Executive Drive and the Treasury Building, on the west by West Executive Drive and the Old Executive Office Building, and ...

in Washington, DC. President Carter ordered a

tree house A tree house, tree fort or treeshed, is a platform or building constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level. Tree houses can be used for recreation, work space, habitation, a ha ...

built within the cedar for his daughter Amy. The wooden structure was designed by the President himself, and is self-supporting so as not to cause damage to the tree.

Forestry

Cedar

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

s, mainly with ''C. atlantica'', have been established in southern France for timber production.

References

External links

uconn.edu: ''Cedrus atlantica'' profile and gallery

Gymnosperm Database - ''Cedrus atlantica'' (Atlas cedar) description

PFAF Plant Database: ''Cedrus atlantica'' Atlas deodar cedar

''Cedrus atlantica''
- genetic conservation units

European Forest Genetic Resources Programme European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN) is an international network that promotes the conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources in Europe as an integral part of sustainable forest management. It was established ...

(EUFORGEN) {{Taxonbar, from=Q623489 atlantica Trees of Algeria Trees of Morocco Flora of North Africa ~ Endangered flora of Africa Garden plants of Africa Plants used in bonsai Ornamental trees Drought-tolerant trees Taxa named by Élie-Abel Carrière