Cedrus libani A.Rich., 1823

🇬🇧 Cedar-of-Lebanon

🇫🇷 Cèdre du Liban, Cèdre du mont Liban

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Gymnosperms
Class: Pinopsida
Subclass: Pinidae
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Subfamily: Abietoideae
Tribe: Cedreae
Genus: Cedrus
Species: Cedrus libani

Presence

Introduced, not established.

Conservation status

Red List (Metropolitan France): NA Not Applicable
Red List (Europe): VU Vulnerable

Notes

Possible confusion with C. atlantica (Endl.) Manetti ex Carrière, 1855, whose current year’s shoots are pubescent, while those of C. libani are glabrous.

C. brevifolia (Hook.f.) Elwes & A.Henry, 1908, which is endemic to Cyprus was often treated as a variety or subspecies of C. libani, but a recent genetic study revealed that it is a distinct species (Griebeling et al., 2026).

Photographs

img/cedrus-libani.webp — *Cedrus libani*

img/cedrus-libani-2.webp — *Cedrus libani*

img/cedrus-libani-3.webp — *Cedrus libani* - Leaves

Sources

Christou, A., & Gardner, M. (2017). Cedrus libani (Europe assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2017. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/46191675/83839346
Griebeling, L., Klumpp, R., Neophytou, C., Tremetsberger, K., Hasenauer, H., & Jansen, S. (2026). The spatial genetic structure and diversity of cedar (Cedrus sp.) from Türkiye and Cyprus: evidence from nSSRs. European Journal of Forest Research, 145(3), 48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-026-01887-5
Tison, J.M., & de Foucault, B. (2014). Flora Gallica : Flore de France (p. 38). Biotope.