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Cedrus atlantica, the Atlas cedar, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae, native to the Rif and Atlas Mountains of Morocco (Middle Atlas, High Atlas), and to the Tell Atlas in Algeria.Gaussen, H. (1964). Genre Cedrus. Les Formes Actuelles. Trav. Lab. For. Toulouse T2 V1 11: 295-320 A majority of the modern sourcesGymnosperm database Cedrus.GRIN Taxonomy for Plants Cedrus .NCBI Taxonomy Browser Cedrus.Flora of China vol. 4Qiao, C.-Y., Jin-Hua Ran, Yan Li and Xiao-Quan Wang (2007): Phylogeny and Biogeography of Cedrus (Pinaceae) Inferred from Sequences of Seven Paternal Chloroplast and Maternal Mitochondrial DNA Regions. Annals of Botany 100(3):573-580. Available onlineFarjon, A. (1990). Pinaceae. Drawings and Descriptions of the Genera. Koeltz Scientific Books .Farjon, A. (2008). A Natural History of Conifers. Timber Press .Christou, K. A. (1991). The genetic and taxonomic status of Cyprus cedar, Cedrus brevifolia (Hook.) Henry. Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, Greece. treat it as a distinct species Cedrus atlantica, but some sourcesGüner, A., Özhatay, N., Ekim, T., & Başer, K. H. C. (ed.). 2000. Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands 11 (Supplement 2): 5–6. Edinburgh University Press. Eckenwalder, J. E. (2009). Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press . consider it a subspecies of Lebanon cedar ( C. libani subsp. atlantica).
Currently, Morocco has the highest total surface of Atlas cedar in the world, and it forms vast forests in the humid zones of the country, around the Middle-Atlas range, the oriental and Northern High-Atlas range, and in the Western and Central Rif mountain range. The current total area is around 163,000 hectares, of which around 115,000 hectares (80%) are situated in the Middle-Atlas mountains. The species is in danger from human use, wood harvesting and fires. Data that go back to 1927 show higher number of Atlas cedars (more than 150,000 hectares) in the Middle-Atlas mountains only. The Rif mountains had one of the largest cedar forests in the past, but forests nowadays are much smaller, 15% of the total cedar forests in Morocco. Recently massive reforestation campaigns have taken place in the region of Ifrane Province.
In Algeria, the Atlas cedar has been in significant decline. According to data from 1966 the species inhabited 23,000 hectares, forming forests around the Djurdjura Mountains in Kabylie and Aures Mountains. However, it is expected that it currently inhabits fewer than 15,000 hectares owing to extensive fires and human use.
Many of the cultivated trees have glaucous (bluish) foliage, more downy shoots, and can have more leaves in each whorl; young trees in cultivation often have more ascending branches than many cultivated C. atlantica specimens.Walters, W. M. (1986). European Garden Flora Vol 1. .
In the United Kingdom the following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017):
An Atlas cedar is planted at the White House South Lawn in Washington, DC. President Carter ordered a tree house built within the cedar for his daughter Amy. The wooden structure was designed by the President himself, and is self-supporting so as not to cause damage to the tree.
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