|
Trees in Chitral Gol National Park, Pakistan [Vladimir Dinets, Oct-2004].
Trees in Chitral Gol National Park, Pakistan [Vladimir Dinets, Oct-2004].
Cone and foliage of an ornamental specimen in Seattle [C.J. Earle, Oct-2001].
Pollen cone on an ornamental specimen in Seattle [C.J. Earle, Oct-2001].
Distribution of
Cedrus deodara
(
Vidakovic 1991
).
Line drawing; for full size image go to the Flora of China (
Wu and Raven 1999
).
|
|
Cedrus deodara
(D. Don.) G. Don.
Common Names
Deodar, Himalaya cedar (
Vidakovic 1991
).
Taxonomic notes
Syn:
C. indica
Chambray;
Cedrus libani
var.
deodara
Hook. (
Vidakovic 1991
).
Description
"A tree up to 50 m high and up to 3 m in diameter. Crown conical when young, with drooping leader and branches drooping at the end (Fig. 67), older trees rounded. Branches horizontally arranged, and end of the shoots pendulous. One-year shoots densely pubescent. Needles blue-green, about 30 in a cluster, 3-5 cm long, acuminate. Flowers appear in September and October. Cones solitary or in pairs. ovate or barrel-shaped. 7-10 cm long, 5-6 cm wide, rounded at the apex, bluish when young, reddish-brown when ripe; maturing from September to November; the seed is shed from September to December; seed scales 5-6 cm wide, usually glabrous on the upper side. Seed about 17 mm long, about 6 mm wide; wing large, light brown" (
Vidakovic 1991
).
Range
India and Pakistan: W Himal and S slopes of the Hindu Kush (
Silba 1986
, Vladimir Dinets e-mail 2-Jan-1998) at 1100-3000 m, "usually on silicate mother rocks. ... The best trees are found on deep, well-drained soils. High atmospheric moisture is favourable. It is tolerant to shade, but young trees are prone to injury from frosts and cold wind" (
Vidakovic 1991
). It is a component of the temperate forest, usually on north-facing valley slopes, where rainfall ranges from less than 1000 mm per year up to 2500 mm per year, mostly in the form of winter snow. In these forests
C. deodara
is associated with a wide array of conifers and some broadleaf trees. Species present may include
Pinus wallichiana
,
Taxus baccata
,
Picea smithiana
,
Abies spectabilis
, and
Abies pindrow
, as well as species of
Quercus
,
Rhododendron
,
Acer
,
Corylus
,
Aesculus
and
Betula
. At somewhat lower and drier (precipitation less than 1000 mm/year, mostly as snow) elevations it commonly occurs with
Pinus gerardiana
,
Quercus ilex
and
Juniperus excelsa
subsp.
polycarpos
(Bhattacharyya et al. 1988).
Big Tree
A specimen at Via A. Rossi, Veneto, Piovene Rocchette, Italy has a 279 cm dbh and is 26 m tall. Another at parco del Castello, Piemonte, Italy is 45 m tall with a dbh of 177 cm (CFDS). Bhattacharyya et al. (1988) report wild specimens up to 11 meters in girth (approx. 350 cm dbh), but provide no supporting data.
Oldest
Bhattacharyya et al. (1988) report a sample with 900 rings, but provide no further information. A cross-section displayed at the timber museum of F.R.I. Dehra Dun is 280 cm across with 704 rings (Robert Van Pelt e-mail 4-Feb-2004); Bhattacharyya et al. (1988) report this same sample, citing Gamble (1902), as having 660 rings. There is also a recent report of a tree-ring chronology covering 745 years; if based on living trees, this may include the oldest known living
C. deodara
(Yadav and Bhattacharyya 1992).
Dendrochronology
Two exploratory studies by Bhattacharyya et al. (1988, 1992) found that samples from sites in India (Kashmir) and western Nepal provided long records, crossdated well, and contained significant variance attributable to climate. A variety of further studies have also been done, mostly by Bhattacharyya and Yadav; for details see the
Bibliography of Dendrochronology
.
Ethnobotany
Is an important timber tree in India. In the West, is widely planted as an ornamental in Europe (
Vidakovic 1991
) and the western U.S.
Observations
Vladimir Dinets (E-mail, 14-Nov-2004) reports that Kalam, in Pakistan's Swat Valley, has a large forest of
C. deodara
with some
Picea smithiana
and
Pinus wallichiana
. He adds that the only other place with a lot of
Cedrus
is Chitral Gol National Park, a much longer trip from Islamabad. See Dinets (2004) for further detail.
Remarks
Citations
Bhattacharyya, A., V.C. LaMarche Jr., and F.W. Telewski. 1988. Dendrochronological reconnaissance of the conifers of northwest India.
Tree-Ring Bulletin
48:21-30. Available online at
www.treeringsociety.org/TRBTRR/TRBvol48_21-30.pdf
(accessed 2006.06.14).
Bhattacharyya, A., V.C. LaMarche Jr., and M.K. Hughes. 1992. Tree-ring chronologies from Nepal.
Tree-Ring Bulletin
52:59-66. Available online at
www.treeringsociety.org/TRBTRR/TRBvol52_59-66.pdf
(accessed 2006.06.14).
CFDS =
Corpo Forestale Della Stato
, a listing of big trees in Italy.
Dinets, Vladimir. 2004. Ramadan in Pakistan.
http://dinets.travel.ru/eibex.htm
(28-Nov-2004).
Gamble, J.S. 1902. A manual of Indian timbers. London: Sampsonlow, Marston and Co.
Yadav, R.R., and A. Bhattacharyya. 1992. A 745-year chronology of Cedrus deodara from western Himalaya, India.
Dendrochronologia
10: 53-61.
See Also
Borgaonkar, H.P., Somaru Ram, and A.B. Sikder. 2009. Assessment of tree-ring analysis of high-elevation Cedrus deodara D. Don from Western Himalaya (India) in relation to climate and glacier fluctuations.
Dendrochronologia
27(1):59-69.
Farjon 1990
.
back
|
Cedrus
|
Pinaceae
|
home
This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.conifers.org/pi/ce/deodara.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
Last modified on 2009.04.14
|
|
