Deodar Cedar

The deodar cedar is a large conifer of the Himalayas, 40 to 50 metres tall, with a conic crown, drooping branchlets and needle-like leaves from bright green to blue-green. It grows from East Afghanistan to north-central India at 1,500 to 3,200 metres. The name comes from the Sanskrit devadaru, "wood of the gods". Hindus worship it as a divine tree, and its durable, rot-resistant wood has long been used to build temples. The inner wood is aromatic and made into incense, and distilled into an essential oil that repels insects and is used in aromatherapy, soap perfumes and sprays. Ayurvedic medicine uses it. It is the national tree of Pakistan and the state tree of Himachal Pradesh.