Cedrus libani England
Item Information
- Title:
- Cedrus libani England
- Title (alt.):
-
Tree habit with mansion
- Description:
-
Cedrus libani England. Syon House, Twickenham.
- Collector:
- Wilson, Ernest Henry, 1876-1930
- Photographer:
- Wallis, E.J.
- Date:
-
[ca. 1923]
- Format:
-
Photographs
- Genre:
-
Glass negatives
- Location:
- Arnold Arboretum Horticultural Library
- Collection (local):
-
Photographs of Ernest Henry Wilson
- Series:
- New England Trees
- Subjects:
-
Cedar trees
Cedar of Lebanon
- Places:
-
England
- Extent:
- 1 negative : glass ; 15.5 x 20.5 cm.
- Permalink:
- https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/1r66j391t
- Terms of Use:
-
(c) President and Fellows of Harvard College. Arnold Arboretum Archives. Permission to publish archival materials and / or images in a publication, performance, or broadcast must first contact the library for permission < hortlib@arnarb.harvard.edu >. Our policies and forms for use of the library and archival materials can be accessed at http://arboretum.harvard.edu/library/services/
All rights reserved.
- Notes (date):
-
Date supplied by cataloger.
- Notes (object):
-
corner, some loose chips
- Notes (historical):
-
This particular Cedar of Lebanon (or Cedrus libani) was photographed at Syon house at the Kew Gardens in England. The photo is not by Wilson, but by E.J. Wallis, who photographed many monuments and plants at the Kew. The Cedar of Lebanon is one Britain's oldest tree imports. It grows in Lebanon, and is its national symbol, seen on the Lebanese flag and coat of arms. This tree, however, also grows elsewhere naturally, in Palestine, Israel, northwest Jordan, western Syria, and south central Turkey. It has been around at least since Ancient Egyptians used the resin of Cedrus libani to embalm the dead. While it was first imported in England in the year 1638, tree did not truly flourish or become popular in England until the early 19th century. This was partially because of frosts in 1740, and partially because of the 18th century landscape gardener 'Capability' Brown, who planted this tree in many of the 170 parks and gardens that he designed in England. It became a fairly famous tree among pious Victorians, probably because of frequent references to it in the Bible. Chests of drawers and cupboards made from Cedar of Lebanon were also extremely popular in Victorian times, because of the beauty of the wood and its sweet, aromatic smell. According to an article about plant collecting at the Arnold Arboretum, “Charles Sargent wanted badly to grow the cedar of Lebanon, that stately, umbrageous ornament of English estates. But the cedar of Lebanon wouldn't live for Sargent although he tried and tried. Then he learned that it grew at 12,000-foot elevations in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey. He commissioned a botanist from Smyrna to go to the mountaintop. Seed he collected produced Cedrus libani variety stenocoma, reliably hardy in Boston, a little more upright and stiff than the descendants of those trees on the hills of Palestine.” (Reed 2) There are currently 27 Cedars of Lebanon growing on the Arboretum grounds, according to the interactive map, and several are located near the Visitor Center. Many are indeed from Turkey. From “History in Your Garden: Cedar of Lebanon,” Daily Mail Reporter, 15 January 2010. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/gardening/article-1243198/HISTORY-IN-YOUR-GARDEN-Cedar-Lebanon-Cedrus-libani.html; Christopher Reed, “The Chinese Contraceptive Bush and Other Remarkable Shrubs and Trees of the Arnold Arboretum,” Harvard Magazine 1996 online: http://harvardmagazine.com/1996/07/bush.html
- Accession #:
-
1975
- Identifier:
-
AAW-041
M-41
