The Cedar of Lebanon (
Cedrus libani) is in my opinion the most renown Evergreen tree of all time. It was valued by the Ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, Arabs, Babylonians, Phoenicians, Greeks and others. Its value stems from its resistant wood, its aromatic resin and it value as a robust ornamental tree for stately gardens.
The leaves of the Lebanese Cedar tree grow on the ends of short stems like the one in the image above. These little clusters of leaves "needles" are often referred to as rosettes. On the Lebanese Cedar these clusters contain anywhere from 30 to 40 individual needle like leaves that are just under one inch in length (2cm). The
Atlas Cedar is very similar to its Lebanese cousin.
The seed cones of the Cedar of Lebanon grow upright much like fir cones and disintegrate while still on the branch. The image below shows the difference between the Lebanese (left) and Himalayan (right) ceder species. As you can see the
Himalayan Cedar has longer leaves and fewer on each rosette.
The Southern magnolia tree (species name: Magnolia grandiflora) is a beautiful ornamental tree native to the Southeastern United States. It is the state tree of both Louisiana and Mississippi (where it is also the state flower). The large white flower of the Southern magnolia has a distinct "tulip" shape and forms on the terminal end of the branches in late spring or early summer after the years leaves have formed.
After the petals have fallen off of the pollinated flower a curios looking "fruit" forms that more than one has confused with a tropical fruit.
When the fruit is fully mature it dries out and ejects a number of bright red seeds that are round but flattened.
