Phil Bendle Collection:Cedrus deodara (Himalayan cedar)

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Genus: Cedrus
Species: C. deodara
Binomial name: Cedrus deodara
Common name: Himalayan cedar, Deodar cedar

Cedrus deodara is a species of cedar native to the western Himalayas in eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, India, south-western Tibet and western Nepal, occurring at 1,500–3,200 m altitude.
It is a large evergreen coniferous tree reaching 40–60 m with a gray-brown trunk up to 3 m in diameter. The bark develops short furrows with scaly ridge tops. The tree has a conic crown with level branches and drooping branchlets.
The evergreen leaves are needle-like, mostly 2.5–5 cm (long, occasionally up to 7 cm long, slender (1 mm thick), borne singly on long shoots, and in dense clusters of 20–30 on short shoots; they vary from a dark green, bright green to silvery bloom giving them a blue-green colour.
This species is monoecious having male and female cones. The male cones develop on the lower branches and are 4-6 cm long. They shed their pollen in autumn.
The upright female cones are initially green/purplish, then later turning to a reddish brown when mature. They are barrel-shaped, 7–13 cm long and 5–9 cm broad, and disintegrate when mature (in 12 months) to release the winged seeds.  

Photographed at Tupare Gardens, New Plymouth, Taranaki.

A new upright female cone.(October)

Last years female cone (October)

The female cone base left after it has disintegrate when mature to release its winged seeds.

The needles (leaves)

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