Page:TheTreesOfGreatBritainAndIreland vol03B.djvu/31

Rh "To the best of my knowledge there are five groves of cedars in Lebanon. The best known one, and that containing the oldest trees, is one in northern Lebanon above Bsharri. [Plate 127, from a photograph by Dr. Van Dyck, shews one of these trees.] The condition of that has, I think, not changed much in thirty years. I am sure that no new trees have grown up in it. A few of the oldest ones have lost branches, or have entirely perished. The grove is a favourite resort in summer for Syrians and for foreigners. A few hours south and west of Bsharri is the village of Hadeth-el-Jubbeh, or Hadeth, as it is often called, though there are a number of Hadeths in Lebanon. Within a half-hour to the south of Hadeth is a fine grove of young trees which, I think I have been informed, was started and has been preserved by a Greek or Maronite bishop. The remaining three groves are near each other, on the western slope of the main ridge of Lebanon, the most northern one being a few miles south of the Beirut-Damascus road as it crosses the ridge. The most northern of the three is above the village of Ain-Zahalta, the next is above Bartk, and the third is above Maâsir, each being known by the name of the village near it, being also the property of that village. The smallest grove, but that containing the oldest trees, is that of Maâsir. The Bârûk grove is the most extensive of all the five in Lebanon, and contains many young trees in all stages of growth. Most of the trees are upon a very steep slope, but in the upper part of the grove there are various knolls and hollows, affording a few charming spots for camping. I am sorry to say that this fine grove suffers much from being cut. The people of Barfik obtain from it roof-beams and wood for fuel, and I am informed that they are discussing selling a large part of it to be felled for pitch. I have failed to find a single large tree in the Barak grove which has not been cut off, with the result that several branches have taken the place of the principal stem. The ordinary Arabic name of the cedar is ‘Arz,’ but the natives of the villages near the three southern groves call the tree ‘Ubhul.’”

The cedar is also found in the Taurus and Anti-Taurus ranges in Asia Minor, extending from the province of Caria’ in the west to near the frontier of Armenia in the east. It forms a considerable part of the coniferous forest, which, in a few scattered localities, covers the mountains between 4000 and 7000 feet. It is usually associated with Abies cilicica, Juniperus excelsa, and J. fœtidissima; and is occasionally mixed with Pinus Laricio. In Lycia, dense woods of cedar were observed by Luschan? in the Baba Dagh and between Zumuru and the Bulanik Dagh. The tree, however, appears to attain its maximum development in the Cilician Taurus, where there are fine forests of great extent in the Bulgar Dagh, which have been visited by Tchihatcheff,? Kotschy,* and W. Siehe.® The latter states that the climate in which the cedar grows is a severe one, the snow lying several feet deep on the ground for about five months of the year. He describes

1 Collected in Caria by Pinard, according to Boissier, Flora Orientalis, v. 699 (1881). Dr. Stapf informs us that Luschan also saw the cedar in this province.

2 Cf. Stapf, Beiträge Flora Lycien, Carien, u. Mesopotamien, 2 (1885).

3 Asie Mineure, ii. 496 (1860).

4 Reise Cilicischen Taurus, 58, 370 (1858).

8 Gartenflora, 1897, pp. 182, 206. Siehe has sent seed from the Cilician Taurus to various places, and I have two vigorous young trees raised from them.