Stephen Middleton from the Friends of Alexandra Park introduces us to another of the Park’s 7,500 trees…

October’s Tree of the Month is a cedar tree that comes from up on the slopes of the Himalayas. Its name is the Deodar (Cedrus deodara).

If you stand in the Rose Garden this is the first conifer to the right of the steep tarmac path going down. Find it on What3words at builds.feel.shack.

The deodar is the national tree of Pakistan and is venerated in Hindu culture. The name, deodar, comes from the Sanskrit word “devadaru” meaning ‘tree of god’.

Our tree of the month can be found on the sides of the mountain range growing between about 1500 and 3000 metres up. It has a fragrant scent and is used in the construction of temples and palaces as well as the more prosaic bridges and railway sleepers.

In Kashmir they are used for the construction of the houseboats of Srinagar.

The trees anti-fungal and insect repellent qualities also make it an excellent choice for food storage.

The deodar first came to the UK in 1831 and is now just planted as an ornamental tree although it was trialled unsuccessfully in the past for forestry.

This cedar can be identified by the branches that droop at their growing tips. It is an evergreen conifer that can grow up to 50 or 60 metres tall in its native range, but not reaching 40 metres in this country.

The leaves take the form of rosettes of about 25 needles each and look very similar to those of larch trees. At this time of year you can also see a forest of male cones spreading over the tree. Clouds of yellow pollen are being wafted into the air so hay fever sufferers should beware. The female barrel-shaped cones of this species of cedar are not produced so readily and are sometimes a struggle to find.

Don’t miss this annual occasion to get out in the park as the autumn colours are in full flow. Particularly colourful are the claret ashes with their narrow leaves going purple and red. Several of these trees can be found below the Palm Court.