“…These trees can live to be 1000+ years…”– Fun Facts
Full Plant, Cedrus atlantica (Plant Image Library, 2017)
The true cedars were at one point considered to be one species, C. libani, that contained four subspecies. But cytological, biochemical, and gene flow studies showed the Cedrus genus to be split into four different species: C. libani, C. atlantica, C. deodara, and C. brevifolia (Qiao et. al., 2007). As far as C. atlantica goes, there are at least 28 synonyms and it appears that the last time it was cited as a subspecies rather than its own species was in 1944 (POWO, 2024).
The species in the genus Cedrus can be quite difficult to identify from each other. Needle length and male cone size can help distinguish them. Cedrus atlantica has the shortest needles, 1 – 2.5 cm long, and male cones, (1-)3 – 4 cm long, when compared to both C. libani, needles 2 – 4 cm and male cones 4 – 5 cm long, and C. deodara, needles 2 – 6 cm and male cones 5 – 7 cm long. All three of these Cedrus species are planted in the park.
The Atlas cedar’s more common and scientific name stems from its native range, growing natively only in the Atlas Mountain range in North Africa.
These trees can live to be 1000+ years and the current largest specimen was recorded in Italy in 2017 and was 286 cm diameter at breast height and laser-measured at 34 m tall (Monumental Trees, 2021).
Native
Introduced
Cedrus atlantica grows in mountain forests at 1370-2200 m. These forests are either completely made up of C. atlantica or mixed with other fir, oak, and maple species. Atlas cedar thrives in a winter-wet climate with significant snowfall, and soil that is rocky and calcareous (limestone) (Farjon, 2010).
According to the IUCN red list, C. atlantica is endangered (Thomas, 2013).
