Name: Deodar cedar
Latin Name: Cedrus deodara
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Did you know?
The name “deodar” comes from a Sanskrit word meaning “timber of the gods”, and in its Himalayan home the tree can grow to more than 50 metres tall.
Information:
The deodar cedar is one of the most graceful evergreens (trees that keep their leaves all year round) you can find in a park. Its soft, grey-green needles grow in tufts along branches that droop at the tips, and the top of the tree often nods over like a bowed head. That gentle, drooping shape is the easiest way to tell it apart from its stiffer, more upright relative, the Blue Atlas cedar.
The deodar comes from the western Himalayas, where it has been treasured for centuries for its fragrant, long-lasting wood. It was brought to Britain in the 1830s and quickly became a favourite of Victorian gardeners, who planted it on lawns and in parks as a handsome specimen tree. Its barrel-shaped cones sit upright on the branches and fall apart when ripe, scattering their seeds on the wind.
