雪松 xue song

Pinus deodara Roxburgh, Fl. Ind., ed. 1832, 3: 651. 1832; Cedrus libani A. Richard subsp. deodara (Roxburgh) P. D. Sell; C. libani var. deodara (Roxburgh) J. D. Hooker.

Trees to 60 m tall; trunk to 3 m d.b.h.; bark dark gray, cracking into irregular scales; branches horizontal, slightly tilted or slightly pendulous; long branchlets usually pendulous, pale grayish yellow and densely pubescent with some white powder in 1st year, thereafter grayish; winter bud scales curved outward at base. Leaves radially spreading on long branchlets, in apparent fascicles of 15-20 on short branchlets, initially pale green, aging dark green, linear but broader distally, triangular in cross section, 2.5-5 cm × 1-1.5 mm, hard, stomatal lines 2 or 3 adaxially and 4-6 abaxially, apex acuminate. Seed cones shortly pedunculate, pale green, initially with some white powder, becoming reddish brown when ripe, ovoid or broadly ellipsoid, 7-12 × 5-9 cm. Seed scales flabellate-obtriangular, 2.5-4 × 4-6 cm, margin auriculate into a claw at base, cuneate in central part, incurved distally. Seeds ± triangular, ca. 1 cm; wing ca. 1.5 × 2 cm.

Native in extreme SW Xizang; extensively cultivated as an ornamental in Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hebei, Henan, Hubei,

The timber is utilized in shipbuilding, furniture, bridges, and construction.