Atlas cedar is a large evergreen conifer from the mountains of Morocco and Algeria, reaching 30 to 35 m tall. It is a forest tree rather than a common garden or houseplant, valued for its size and blue-green needles.
Family
Pinaceae (Pine family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply when young and during dry spells; established trees are fairly drought tolerant.
Soil
Well-drained soil, tolerant of lime and poor soils.
Temperature
Hardy to around -20 °C; prefers cool, mountain-like conditions.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
N. & NC. Morocco to N. Algeria
Climate
temperate
About
Cedrus atlantica, the Atlas cedar, is a species of coniferous 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. A majority of the modern sources treat it as a distinct species Cedrus atlantica, but some sources consider it a subspecies of Lebanon cedar (C. libani subsp. atlantica).
Where it grows
Atlas cedars form forests on mountainsides at 1,170 to 2,200 m (3,840 to 7,220 ft), often in pure forests, or mixed with Algerian fir - Abies numidica, Juniperus oxycedrus, holm oak - Quercus ilex, and Acer opalus. These forests can provide habitat for the endangered Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus), a primate that had a prehistorically much wider distribution in northern Morocco and Algeria.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cedrus atlantica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.