Cedrus Deodara

Cedrus deodara (deodar cedar, Himalayan cedar, or deodar;Sanskrit, Hindi: देवदार devadāru; 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, Jammu and Kashmir 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.

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.