Conical tree 30-40 m tall with an erect leading shoot. Young shoots with at least a few dark scurfy hairs at first. Leaves mostly 1.5-2.5 cm long. Male cones erect, mostly 3-4 cm long at the end of the short shoots in the lower part of the tree. Female cones to 8 cm long and 5 cm wide, breaking up in the second or third winter.
Grows naturally in the Atlas Mountains at alt. 1500-2000 m. A popular conifer for ornamental planting in large parks and gardens. It forms an excellent avenue tree and a fine example of this use can be seen in the the streets of Bright, Victoria. Generally grown as the waxy-blue-leaved f. glauca Beissn. (cultivar 'Glauca').
Montane Algeria & Morocco.
Conical habit with stiff shoots not drooping at the tips; new twigs hairy; cones more than 9 cm long.
ACT: Stirling ('Beechwood').
Glauca Group (f. glauca, 'Glauca') Blue Atlas Cedar Variants of the Atlas Cedar with waxy blue leaves are generally available as the cultivar 'Glauca'. However, the blue coloration varies from extremely pale whitish blue to much deeper hues, both in the wild and also in nursery stock selections which are represented by a range of clones. A group name is therefore recommended for this colour complex. Selections that are clearly distinct may still be distinguished by cultivar names.
SA: Mt Gambier ('Barn Palais', Nelson Road; Cave Gds; Vansittart Park); Mylor (Rockford Estate, Bridgewater to Echunga Rd); Penola ('Yallum Park'); Stirling ('St Vigeans', 17 Laurel Rd). NSW: Armidale (Council Chambers; Central Park); Bathurst (Machattie Park); Leura ('Everglades'); Mt Tomah (Bot. Gds); Orange (Cook Park). ACT: Braddon (corner Ainslie Ave &Currong St, ptd c. 1922); Reid (Euree St); Telopea Park (2 in front of Albert Hall). VIC: Ballarat (Bot. Gds &East Town Hall Gds), Beechworth (cemetery), Daylesford (Bot. Gds); Clunes (Queens Park); Narbethong ('St Fillans', 32 m in 1994); Skipton ('Arangi Willi' avenue planting along drive); Springvale (crematorium, avenue at main entrance); Werribee (Werribee Park Estate, lawn facing main entrance). TAS: Deloraine (Meander River Reserve); Hobart (Royal Tasmanian Bot. Gds); Launceston (City Park); New Norfolk (Riverside); Port Arthur.VIC: Clunes (Queens Park); Dandenongs ('Pirianda'); Mt Macedon (old Taylor &Sangster Nursery site).NSW: Mt Tomah (Bot. Gds, cultivar collection). ACT: Woden (cemetery).
Source: (1995). Pinaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 1, Ferns, conifers & their allies. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Cedrus atlantica 'Aurea Robusta'
Conical with pale yellow to grey leaves. Introduced by den Ouden & Son, Boskoop, Netherlands, 1932.
Slow-growing, branches widespreading, leaves yellow, losing the yellow coloration with age. Responds poorly to strong sunlight. Probably originated Boskoop, Netherlands. Vic: Dandenongs ('Pirianda')
Narrow, almost columnar, with upright branches. Raised Lalande, Nantes, France.
Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca Fastigiata'
('Fastigiata Glauca') Narrow conical and blue-leaved. Both the legitimacy and application of this name are uncertain.
Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca Pendula'
Foliage drooping, pale blue. Raised Paillet & Chătenay, France.
Cedrus atlantica 'St Catherine'
('Mount Saint Catherine') Slow-growing, compact, prostrate with some branchlets ascending; needles short, blue. A witch's broom discovered and introduced by Peter Traverna at Crafters, South Australia in 1978.