delicious fragrance. The fcales are very broad, tranfverfely oblong, flat, fan-fliaped, ferruginous, entire,
fmooth, and thin at the edges, and fomewhat membranaceous in texture [figs. 6 and 7]. Seeds unequal,
fomewhat wedge-lhaped, with a large obovate membranous brown wing, expanding fuddenly on the thinner
fide, immediately beyond the feed [fig. 8]. Mr Gordon fays that the majority of the male catkins and the
female flowers are produced on feparate trees, but that a confiderable number of trees alfo produce both male
and female flowers on the fame individual.
Defcription.—The tree in its native habitat is defcribed as of enormous fize, (liceting the fides of the
mountains with a perennial coat of verdure. It is faid to be by no means unufual, in favourable fituations,
to fee it " with a girth varying from 24 to 30 feet, with a proportionate height and expanfe of branches.
Several have been meafured 33 and 36 feet in circumference at 4 or 5 feet from the ground, and others
have been calculated to be 160, 180, or even 200 feet in height." Nothing can exceed the grandeur of an
old Deodar of 30 feet girth ; nor can any adequate conception be formed of its majeftic character from the
fmall fpecimens now in exiftence in England. It varies in appearance greatly during its growth. The
young tree rifes in an elongated conical mafs, tapering off into a long leading fhoot. When it attains
a height of 50 or 60 feet, the terminal leader is faid to wither, the top. to becomc flattened, the lateral
growth increafed, and the tree is faid by fome to drop the character of the Larch, and to put on that
of the Cedar. That its appearance certainly alters greatly may be inferred from the circumftance that
the Englifh refidents in the hill-ftations like Simla imagine that there are two fpecies: the old tree which
they call the Deodar, and the younger one the Kelon. The branches come off clofe to the ground, fpreading
out in horizontal expanfions, rifing flight above flight, in fucceffive fheeted fteps, into a rounded or
flightly flattened top. The flighteft trace of decay is feldom or never feen in the trunk; and the tree,
except where growing in very expofed fituations, never puts on the depreffed tabulated character of the
Cedar of Lebanon. The Larch-like form, however, mull fubfift alfo for a long period, for it is faid, on the
authority of Mr Acworth {Card. Citron., 25th Feb. 1854), that he found the old trees in Lebanon gnarled
like our own old foreft trees, while the forefts of Deodar which he had vifited in India reminded him of a
mafs of gigantic Larches.
Mr Fortune ftates that in the Himmalayahs he could detect no difference in the habits of old trees of
the Deodar and the Cedar of Lebanon, the branches, with the exception of the young terminal twigs, being
ftrictly horizontal; and that as old trees produce very (hort growths of young wood, the pendulous habit is
fcarcely obfervable.
A foreft of Deodars exifted fome years ago, and probably ftill exifts, about fix miles from Fargoo,
on the way to the Borinda Pafs. Moft of the trees were 150 feet high, " as round and taper as a billiardcue,"
and from 15 to 18 feet in circumference, without a fingle fide-branch until within a few feet of the top.
Another foreft, near the Choor Mountain, is defcribed as containing fome moft magnificent Deodars of
great fize: thoufands there ftanding together 200 feet high and 20 to 25 or even 30 feet in girth. The
enormous tninks of the trees which had fallen, and which were as high as a man's head, formed a troublefome
obftacle to the traveller's progrefs.
It has been obferved, in its growth in this country, that the lateral branches do not attain the horizontal
pofition until they are three years old, and that the pendent top, changing its direction every year, makes a
complete revolution in three years, and fo afcends like a fcrew. It
It will be feen, by comparing the above characters and defcription with thofe of the Cedar of Lebanon
and Cedrns Atlantica, that the differences between them are not great. This has given rife to much difcuffion
among fcientific men as to whether they are mere varieties of the fame fpecies, or three true and
diftinct fpecies. Major Hodgfon, when furveying the Himmalayahs, firft promulgated the idea that they
were the fame, and Captain A. Gerard adopted his views. The grounds on which they have been confidered
independent fpecies have hitherto been mainly their habit and manner of growth. There are, however,
or have been fuppofed to be, fome differences in the botanical characters, fuch as the form of the leaves,
cones, fcales, and feeds, in the degree of perfiftence of the cones, the different quality of the timber, and the
odour of the wood and leaves, &c., which cannot be paffed over without confideration.
We fhall examine all thefe differences, whether of habit or character, feriatim, and endeavour to weigh
the importance that fhould be attached to each.
In the firft place, undoubtedly, the greateft difference which can be pointed out is in the habit of growth.
In the Cedar of Lebanon, the leading [hoot in young trees is ftiff, often inclined to one fide, but not
pendulous; when older, it becomes firft fpiry, and afterward the tree affumes a more or
habito"growth6 tabulated! form, the branches being fpread out in horizontal layers or 'ftages, with
the ends of the branches drooping more or lefs.
The African Cedar has a perfectly erect rigid leader, and ftraight ftiff ends to the branches, not drooping,
as in the Cedar of Lebanon.
The Deodar, on the other hand, has a very pendulous leader, and much more drooping ends to its
branches; * afterwards, it acquires a rounded top and horizontal branches, as already mentioned.
All, however, are very variable in habit and appearance; and, what is more extraordinary, inftances
occur where fpecial and exceptional treatment has changed the habit from that of one tree into that of the
other. A Deodar may be feen at Chatfworth, of which the one-half appears to be a Deodar, and the other
half a Cedar of Lebanon. When young, the half of a main branch happened to be broken off, and all the
branchlets and branches which afterwards grew from that broken branch affumed the ftiff, flat port of the
Cedar, while the reft of the tree continued unchanged, and wholly Deodar. That it fliould have done fo
feems in accordance with phyfiological principles. The pruning which this branch had fuffered caufed it
to receive a greater proportion of fap than it could naturally difpofe of, and confequently made it morevigorous.
The effect of greater vigour would be to raife the drooping twigs, and fo give the Deodar the
appearance of a Cedar. The change, however, was confined to that branch; but it proved permanent on
it, and continued to grow with its growth. What may be called congenital varieties are alfo common ; fo
much fo, that in the cafe of the Deodar there are five diftinct varieties known to nurferymen—fome as ftiff,
others as dark-coloured, and others as fhort-leaved as the Cedar of Lebanon. But with all that, the habit
remains fo diftinct that it is fcarcely poflible to miftake the one for the other. No one, we believe, ever faw
a Cedar of Lebanon with its feedling ftem turned downwards; no one a Deodar in any other ftate.
The late Mr Robert Glendinning fays—" I can (hew any one thoufands of each of the kinds growing
near one another, of from one to nine years' growth, all of them having been raifed from feeds on the fame
fpot; and I will venture to affirm that no botanical or gardening knowledge is required to diftinguifh them;
or I will take at random one hundred of each, three feet high, promifcuoufly, and mix them, and I will
guarantee that any bricklayer's labourer will feparate them without any error. They are as eafily feparated
in the feedling ftate as at four feet high " {Card. Chron., 5th March 1853).
Another writer fays—" Sow any number of millions of feeds of the Deodar, and the fame number of the
Cedar, mix the plants together, and after many years' growth no gardener would have the flighteft difficulty
in feparating the two kinds " (Gard. Chron., 19th Feb. 1853).
Nor
Mr Glendinning (Gard. Chron., loc. cit. infra) alks—" Has any one yet attempted to give any explanation why the young plants of the
Abies Smithiana, Pinus cxcelfa, Gerardiana, Abies Briinoniaiia, and Cupreffus tomlofa. and other conifers from the Himmalayahs, turn their heads
down more than thofe nearell allied to them from other parts of the world ? Has the climate of the Himmalayahs any effect of this kind on the
growth of thefe conifers ?"
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