Blue Atlas cedar

Biology

This stunning evergreen conifer can be a very large specimen tree, growing up to 30 metres and forming forests on mountain sides at two thousand metres above sea level. When young, it has silvery foliage, which turns blue as it ages. The sharply pointed leaves are arranged in whorls.

Conservation

Forests of this species have been exploited for several centuries for their high quality timber and for their essential oils, extracted from their leaves. In addition, they have been subject to overgrazing and repeated burning. This exploitation has increased over the last 50 years and, accompanied with long periods of drought, have led to a drastic decrease in these populations.

Curiosities

The forests of this species have provided a habitat for another endangered species, Macaca sylvanus, known as the Barbary macaque.