cedar

Genus of pine-like trees. Older trees - and cedars can grow very old - arrange their foliage in horizontal layers, which gives them a very characteristic shape.

Needles sprout in bunches, like the larch's.

The Lebanon cedar is Lebanon's national symbol.

Not to be confused with American 'cedar's.

The smell of the cedar when it cut is wonderful. That same smell serves to repel insects, and that's why cedar chests were often used to store clothes. Cedar wood was often used to frame closets, for the same reason.

The wood is decay-resistant and often used to make fence posts and pencils. The oil distilled from the wood is used in many toiletries.

Often the poor cedar tree looks distressed when compared to its more fecund neighbors, but it has an inner strength and beauty. It almost looks like a tree totally out of place when you find it in the woods.

Ce"dar (?), n. [AS. ceder, fr. L. cedrus, Gr. .] Bot.

The name of several evergreen trees. The wood is remarkable for its durability and fragrant odor.

⇒ The cedar of Lebanon is the Cedrus Libani; the white cedar (Cupressus thyoides) is now called Chamecyparis sphaeroidea; American red cedar is the Juniperus Virginiana; Spanish cedar, the West Indian Cedrela odorata. Many other trees with odoriferous wood are locally called cedar.

Cedar bird Zool., a species of chatterer (Ampelis cedrarum), so named from its frequenting cedar trees; -- called also cherry bird, Canada robin, and American waxwing.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Ce"dar, a.

Of or pertaining to cedar.

 

© Webster 1913.