Cedrus brevifolia

Cyprus cedar (Cedrus brevifolia )

The Cyprus Cedar (Cedrus brevifolia syn: Cedrus libani var brevifolia ) is a species of the genus of the cedars (Cedrus ) in the pine family ( Pinaceae ).

Description

The Cyprus Cedar is an evergreen tree that reaches heights of growth to just 20 yards in their natural habitat. The trunk diameter can exceed 1 meter. The branches are horizontal and are relatively short. The crown of old copies is broad and umbrella shape.

The 5-8 (up to 12 ) mm long needle-like leaves are thick and blue-green.

The female cones are cylindrical with a distinct thickening at the concave tapering end. They are about 7 inches long and 4 inches wide.

Distribution and threat

The Cyprus cedar growing endemic to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where it grows at altitudes of about 1350 meters in the Troodos Mountains and the mountainous region of Pophos and Tripylos. Its distribution area is about 5 square kilometers.

On the Red List of IUCN as threatened ( "vulnerable ").

System

The first description was in 1880 Joseph Dalton Hooker under the name Cedrus libani var brevifolia Hook f as a variety of Cedrus libani. Augustine Henry she presented in 1908 Elwes and Henry: Trees of Great Britain and Ireland as Cedrus brevifolia in the rank of a kind, the Cyprus cedar is like the North African Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica ( Endl. ) Manetti ) closely related to the Lebanon cedar and is considered by some botanists as a subspecies of Lebanon Cedar.

Swell

• Christopher J. Earle: The Gymnosperm Database, 2011 (English)
• Cheers Gordon (ed.): Botanica: The ABC's of plants. 10,000 species in text and image. Könemann Publishing Company, 2003, ISBN 3-8331-1600-5.