Cedrus deodara

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Deodar Cedar
Adult Deodar trees at a forest location in Himachal Pradesh, Republic of India.
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Genus: Cedrus
Species: C. deodara
Binomial name
Cedrus deodara
(Roxb.) G.Don

Cedrus deodara (deodar cedar, Himalayan cedar, or deodar; Sanskrit, Hindi: देवदार devadār; Urdu: ديودار/دیار deodār; Chinese: 雪松 xue song) is a species of cedar native to the western Himalayas in eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, northern India (Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), southwesternmost Tibet and western Nepal, occurring at 1,500–3,200 m (4,921–10,499 ft) altitude. It is a large evergreen coniferous tree reaching 40–50 m (131–164 ft) tall, exceptionally 60 m (197 ft) with a trunk up to 3 m (10 ft) in diameter. It has a conic crown with level branches and drooping branchlets.[1]

The 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 bright green to glaucous blue-green in colour. The female cones are barrel-shaped, 7–13 cm long and 5–9 cm broad, and disintegrate when mature (in 12 months) to release the winged seeds. The male cones are 4–6 cm long, and shed their pollen in autumn.[1]

Contents

Etymology[edit]

The specific epithet, which is also the English vernacular name, derives from the Sanskrit term devadāru, which means "wood of the gods", a compound of deva (god) and dāru (wood, etym. tree).

Cultural importance in the Indian subcontinent[edit]

Among Hindus, as the etymology of deodar suggests, it is worshiped as a divine tree. Deva, the first half of the Sanskrit term, means divine, deity, or deus. Dāru, the second part, is cognate with (related to) the words durum, druid, tree, and true.[2][3]

Several Hindu legends refer to this tree. For example, Valmiki Ramayan – Kishkinda khanda- stanza 4-43-13 reads:[4]

lodhra padmaka khaNDeSu devadaaru vaneSu ca | raavaNaH saha vaidehyaa maargitavyaa tataH tataH || || 4-43-13

That means “In the stands of Lodhra trees, Padmaka trees and in the woods of Devadaru, or Deodar trees, Ravana is to be searched there and there, together with Sita. [4-43-13]”

Forests full of Deodar or Devadāru trees were the favorite living place of ancient Indian sages and their families who were devoted to the Hindu god Shiva. To please Lord Shiva, the sages used to perform very difficult tapasya (meditation) practices in deodar forests. Also the ancient Hindu epics and Shaivite texts regularly mention Darukavana, meaning a forest of deodars, as a sacred place.

The deodar tree is the national tree of Pakistan.

Cultivation and uses[edit]

Cedrus deodara00.jpg

It is widely grown as an ornamental tree, often planted in parks and large gardens for its drooping foliage. General cultivation is limited to areas with mild winters, with trees frequently killed by temperatures below about -25°C, limiting it to hardiness zones 7 and warmer for reliable growth.[5]

The most cold-tolerant trees originate in the northwest of the species' range in Kashmir and Paktia Province, Afghanistan. Selected cultivars from this region are hardy to zone 7 or even zone 6 [USDA zone, UK zone, which one?], tolerating temperatures down to about -30°C.[5] Named cultivars from this region include 'Eisregen', 'Eiswinter', 'Karl Fuchs', 'Kashmir', 'Polar Winter', and 'Shalimar'.[6][7] Of these, 'Eisregen', 'Eiswinter', 'Karl Fuchs', and 'Polar Winter' were selected in Germany from seed collected in Paktia; 'Kashmir' was a selection of the nursery trade, whereas 'Shalimar' originated from seeds collected in 1964 from Shalimar Gardens, Pakistan (in the Kashmir region) and propagated at the Arnold Arboretum.[6]

This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[8]

Construction material[edit]

Deodar is in great demand as building material because of its durability, rot-resistant character and fine, close grain, which is capable of taking a high polish. Its historical use to construct religious temples and in landscaping around temples is well recorded. Its rot-resistant character also makes it an ideal wood for constructing the well-known houseboats of Srinagar, Kashmir. In Pakistan and India, during the British colonial period, deodar wood was used extensively for construction of barracks, public buildings, bridges, canals and railway cars.[3] Despite its durability, it is not a strong timber, and its brittle nature makes it unsuitable for delicate work where strength is required, such as chair-making.

Herbal Ayurveda[edit]

Cones of Deodar

The use of C. deodara in Ayurvedic medicines is well recorded.[3][9][unreliable source?]

The inner wood is aromatic and used to make incense. Inner wood is distilled into essential oil. As insects avoid this tree, the essential oil is used as insect repellent on the feet of horses, cattle and camels. It also has anti-fungal properties[citation needed] and has some potential for control of fungal deterioration of spices during storage. The outer bark and stem are astringent.[10]

Due to its anti fungal and insect repellent properties, rooms made of Deodar wood are used to store meat and food grains like oats and wheat in Shimla, Kullu and Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. In Himachal people suffering from asthma or other respiratory problems are advised to sit under a Deodar tree early in the morning.

Cedar oil is often used for its aromatic properties, especially in aromatherapy. It has a characteristic woody odour which may change somewhat in the course of drying out. The crude oils are often yellowish or darker in colour. Its applications cover soap perfumes, household sprays, floor polishes and insecticides and is also used in microscope work as a clearing oil.[10]

Chemistry[edit]

The bark of Cedrus deodara contains large amounts of taxifolin.[11] The wood contains cedeodarin (6-methyltaxifolin), dihydromyricetin (ampelopsin), cedrin (6-methyldihydromyricetin), cedrinoside[12] and deodarin (3′,4′,5,6-tetrahydroxy-8-methyl dihydroflavonol).[13] The main components of the needle essential oil include α-terpineol (30.2%), linalool (24.47%), limonene (17.01%), anethole (14.57%), caryophyllene (3.14%) and eugenol (2.14%).[14] The deodar cedar also contains lignans[15] and the phenolic sesquiterpene himasecolone together with isopimaric acid.[16] Other compounds have been identified as (-)-matairesinol, (-)-nortrachelogenin and a dibenzylbutyrolactollignan (4,4',9-trihydroxy-3,3'-dimethoxy-9,9'-epoxylignan).[17]

Gallery[edit]

  • Cedrus deodara needles

  • Cedrus deodara 'Gold Cone' needles

  • Cedrus deodara

  • Cedrus deodara at Lokrum, Croatia

  • Cedrus deodara at Pedrengo, Bergamo, Italy

  • Cedrus deodaras at sunrise in Alton, Hampshire, England

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Farjon, A. (1990). Pinaceae. Drawings and Descriptions of the Genera. Koeltz Scientific Books ISBN 3-87429-298-3.
  2. ^ http://plainfieldtrees.blogspot.com/2007/06/cedars-gods-and-gilgamesh.html Plainfield trees.
  3. ^ a b c <http://jcmcgowan.blogspot.com/2008/03/blog-post.html Edmund Hillary Foundation, World Wildlife Fund-The Deodar Tree: the Himalayan "Tree of God"
  4. ^ http://www.valmikiramayan.net/kishkindha/sarga43/kishkindha_43_frame.html Valmiki Ramayan – Kishkinda khanda
  5. ^ a b Ødum, S. (1985). Report on frost damage to trees in Denmark after the severe 1981/82 and 1984/85 winters. Hørsholm Arboretum, Denmark.
  6. ^ a b Welch, H., & Haddow, G. (1993). The World Checklist of Conifers. Landsman's ISBN 0-900513-09-8.
  7. ^ Krüssmann, G. (1983). Handbuch der Nadelgehölze, 2nd ed. Paul Parey ISBN 3-489-62622-2 (in German).
  8. ^ http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=353
  9. ^ http://www.herbalayurveda.com/herbdetail.asp?id=24, Herbal Ayurveda
  10. ^ a b http://www.fao.org/docrep/V5350e/V5350e12.htm Cedarwood Oils
  11. ^ Extractives in bark of different conifer species growing in Pakistan. Willför S, Mumtaz Ali, Karonen M, Reunanen M, Mohammad Arfan and Harlamow R, Holzforschung, 2009, Volume 63, Number 5, pages 551-558, doi:10.1515/HF
  12. ^ Dihydroflavonols from Cedrus deodara. P.K. Agrawal, S.K. Agarwal and R.P. Rastogi, Phytochemistry, Volume 19, Issue 5, 1980, Pages 893–896, doi:10.1016/0031-9422(80)85133-8
  13. ^ Chemical investigation of the stem-bark of Cedrus deodara: Isolation of a new dihydroflavonol, deodarin. D. Adinarayana1 and T.R. Seshadri, Tetrahedron, Volume 21, Issue 12, 1965, Pages 3727–3730, doi:10.1016/S0040-4020(01)96989-3
  14. ^ Chemical Composition, Antioxidant, and Antimicrobial Activities of Essential Oil from Pine Needle (Cedrus deodara). Wei-Cai Zeng, Zeng Zhang, Hong Gao, Li-Rong Jia and Qiang He, Journal of Food Science, July 2012, Volume 77, Issue 7, pages C824–C829, doi:10.1111/j.1750-3841.2012.02767.x
  15. ^ Two lignans from Cedrus deodara. P.K. Agrawal and R.P. Rastogi, Phytochemistry, 1982, Volume 21, Issue 6, Pages 1459–1461, doi:10.1016/0031-9422(82)80172-6
  16. ^ Terpenoids from Cedrus deodara. P.K. Agarwal and R.P. Rastogi, Phytochemistry, 20(6), pages 1319-1321, doi:10.1016/0031-9422(81)80031-3
  17. ^ Free radical scavenging active components from Cedrus deodara. Tiwari A.K., Srinivas P.V., Kumar S.P. and Rao J.M., Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, Oct 2001, vol 49 (10), PubMed

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cedrus deodara
  • Caldecott, Todd (2006). Ayurveda: The Divine Science of Life. Elsevier/Mosby. ISBN 0-7234-3410-7.  Contains a detailed monograph on Cedrus deodara (Devadaru) as well as a discussion of health benefits and usage in clinical practice. "The Divine Science of Life" online
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