Cedar of Lebanon
Needles attached singly and in clusters, the former only on young shoots. Buds in the axils of these needles then go on to produce the characteristic spur shoots with clusters of 10-20 needles at their tips. Needles are 1.0-2.0cm long, square in cross-section and with a gradually tapered translucent tip. Trees encountered in the British Isles needles are most often dark grey-green, but not exclusively so. Barrel-shaped cones are upright and disintegrate in situ when mature. Male cones are around 5cm long when they mature and shed pollen in early November before turning brown and falling to the ground. Lead shoot at the top of younger trees leans to one side but does not arch over. Initially an archetypal conical conifer shape, the crown flattens out into the classic and recognisable cedar form when mature. Of the four recognised species of Cedrus only three are likely to be encountered in the British Isles and can be very similar in appearance. Characters such as the needle length, needle tip and colour, and timing of the male cones maturing help to separate them. The attitude of the tips of young branches can be helpful; in Cedar of Lebanon they are usually level(horizontal) though this is not fully reliable.
Cedar of Lebanon was probably introduced to the British Isles around 1638 from it's native range through Lebanon, Syria, and the Taurus Mountains of Turkey. The flat topped form of mature trees is a common sight in parks and large gardens. The three Mediterranean Cedrus are very closely related and were probably once part of an extended clinal population that stretched across the Mediterranean basin. Though currently classed as separate species the characters used to split them occur in populations of both in the wild and they may be best treated as subspecies. Foliage colour is a good example of this with both green and strongly glaucous forms found in wild populations of both C. atlantica and C. libani. However, in the British Isles it is almost exclusively the dark grey-green form of Cedar of Lebanon which is planted.