Atlas Cedar

Where it grows

Atlas cedar is endemic to the Atlas and Rif Mountains of Morocco and the Tell Atlas of Algeria, where it grows between 1300 and 2200 metres elevation. The Moroccan forests, particularly around Ifrane and Azrou, are the most extensive remaining and shelter Barbary macaques.

How to recognise it

Atlas cedar resembles its Lebanese cousin but is more often grown in its blue-green cultivar (glauca), with strikingly silvery needles. The branches angle slightly upward rather than sweeping flatly horizontal, giving young trees a more pyramidal shape than the broad-crowned Cedar of Lebanon.

Uses

The aromatic, durable wood is used for furniture, building, and carved panels, and a sweet-smelling essential oil is steam-distilled for perfumery and traditional medicine. In Europe and North America the tree is widely planted as an ornamental for parks and large gardens.

Conservation

Logging, charcoal-making, and overgrazing have shrunk the native forests by more than 75 percent. Climate change is now drying out the high Atlas, killing mature trees on south-facing slopes.