Even for the Phoenicians, who used the durable and fragrant cedarwood for shipbuilding, the evergreen Lebanon cedar was the queen of trees, if not of the entire plant kingdom. However, overexploitation began even then, so that today only a few truly old trees remain in the forests of the Lebanon Mountains. This attractive park tree grows slowly to a final height of 10 to 20 meters. It is decorative even as a young plant, hardy in milder regions, and develops its distinctive shape over the years. Initially, the cedar grows in a conical shape and, with increasing age, develops an attractively irregular, umbrella-shaped silhouette. The cedar is so important to the state of Lebanon that it adorns the flag and the coat of arms.
Natural habitat: The Lebanon cedar is naturally native to Lebanon, but also to large parts of Asia Minor and Cyprus, extending as far as Algeria. In Turkey, reforestation efforts now take place on 300 km² annually.
