Subject
Weeping Cedars again
From
Date
Body
from Don Johnson
Thanks to Jancy for gathering up various strands including the below.
The "Pendula" is a variety (subspecies) of the Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca Pendula, while there is also a pendula subspecies of the Cedar of Lebanon (C. libani) called Weeping Cedar. So far as I know subspecies are implicitly included when one uses the Genus/species taxonym.
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Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca Pendula' Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar
Cedrus libani pendula Weeping Cedar of Lebanon
Only the latter has "of Lebanon" as part of the common English name. And "yes," I agree there is doubtless a link between the cedars in PF & Ada.
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JF wrote to Don Johnson: I think the "weeping cedar" is a cultivar of the Cedar of Lebanon, maybe specifically /Cedrus libani/ "Pendula", so it's not quite "the Lebanon Cedar a.k.a. the Weeping Cedar". I can't help wondering whether this is a reminiscence of the obvious and hidden cedars in /Pale Fire/. Unfortunately, I didn't find "shade" in the passage (though "shadow" is there). (JF)
JM to JF and DBJ: In one of my sources I saw there are various kinds of Cedrus libani and one, the weeping cedar, is mentioned as belonging to the "Atlas" ("Atlantic") kind.
I also found a reference that "Biblical or Koranic names are frequently used outside the Near East for indigenous plants that never grew in the lands where these two books originated. The flora of eastern North America, for example, has many "cedars", which are not related to the cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) of the Bible. Perhaps because the cedar of Lebanon was such a well-recognized symbol from the Bible, the early Christian settlers in North America gave this name to many different trees (and even to many herbaceous plants),whether or not they were true cedars or even members of the same botanical family. For example, the widespread red cedar of eastern North America (Juniperus virginiana), like Cedrus libani, is an evergreen and has a pleasant, enduring fragrance, but its cone is fleshy and berry-like, unlike the large spindle-shaped cone of the cedar of Lebanon."
Of interest to "Ada, or Ardor", might be the link with Eden' s Tree of Knowledge in "Religion: Theology, Rite and Myth." Samuel Noah Kramer (" Ezekiel mentions the cedars of Lebanon in the Garden of Eden, ..." www.bibleorigins.net/EdensTreeofKnowledgeLife.html ; Roberts - Trees as Tribute in the Ancient Near East - Transoxiana .. "The Cedars of Lebanon", pp. 89-96; "Cypress and Juniper in Hebrew and Assyrian Texts", ... "The Paradise Myth", pp 2-7. George Brazilier, New
York, 1979. ...www.transoxiana.org/11/roberts-near_east_trees.html -
To complete the data gathered now:
Giulia Visintin: Lebanon Cedar a.k.a. the Weeping Cedar in Strong Opinions, p. 55
SES: [EDNOTE. Just to save everyone from finding the citation: In his comments for a 1965 television interview in SO, VN remarks that "A good
deal of Kinbote's commentary was written here in the Montreux Palace garden[. . . .] I'm especially fond of its weeping cedar, the arboreal
counterpart of a very shaggy dog with hair hanging over its eyes" (55). ]
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Thanks to Jancy for gathering up various strands including the below.
The "Pendula" is a variety (subspecies) of the Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca Pendula, while there is also a pendula subspecies of the Cedar of Lebanon (C. libani) called Weeping Cedar. So far as I know subspecies are implicitly included when one uses the Genus/species taxonym.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca Pendula' Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar
Cedrus libani pendula Weeping Cedar of Lebanon
Only the latter has "of Lebanon" as part of the common English name. And "yes," I agree there is doubtless a link between the cedars in PF & Ada.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
JF wrote to Don Johnson: I think the "weeping cedar" is a cultivar of the Cedar of Lebanon, maybe specifically /Cedrus libani/ "Pendula", so it's not quite "the Lebanon Cedar a.k.a. the Weeping Cedar". I can't help wondering whether this is a reminiscence of the obvious and hidden cedars in /Pale Fire/. Unfortunately, I didn't find "shade" in the passage (though "shadow" is there). (JF)
JM to JF and DBJ: In one of my sources I saw there are various kinds of Cedrus libani and one, the weeping cedar, is mentioned as belonging to the "Atlas" ("Atlantic") kind.
I also found a reference that "Biblical or Koranic names are frequently used outside the Near East for indigenous plants that never grew in the lands where these two books originated. The flora of eastern North America, for example, has many "cedars", which are not related to the cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) of the Bible. Perhaps because the cedar of Lebanon was such a well-recognized symbol from the Bible, the early Christian settlers in North America gave this name to many different trees (and even to many herbaceous plants),whether or not they were true cedars or even members of the same botanical family. For example, the widespread red cedar of eastern North America (Juniperus virginiana), like Cedrus libani, is an evergreen and has a pleasant, enduring fragrance, but its cone is fleshy and berry-like, unlike the large spindle-shaped cone of the cedar of Lebanon."
Of interest to "Ada, or Ardor", might be the link with Eden' s Tree of Knowledge in "Religion: Theology, Rite and Myth." Samuel Noah Kramer (" Ezekiel mentions the cedars of Lebanon in the Garden of Eden, ..." www.bibleorigins.net/EdensTreeofKnowledgeLife.html ; Roberts - Trees as Tribute in the Ancient Near East - Transoxiana .. "The Cedars of Lebanon", pp. 89-96; "Cypress and Juniper in Hebrew and Assyrian Texts", ... "The Paradise Myth", pp 2-7. George Brazilier, New
York, 1979. ...www.transoxiana.org/11/roberts-near_east_trees.html -
To complete the data gathered now:
Giulia Visintin: Lebanon Cedar a.k.a. the Weeping Cedar in Strong Opinions, p. 55
SES: [EDNOTE. Just to save everyone from finding the citation: In his comments for a 1965 television interview in SO, VN remarks that "A good
deal of Kinbote's commentary was written here in the Montreux Palace garden[. . . .] I'm especially fond of its weeping cedar, the arboreal
counterpart of a very shaggy dog with hair hanging over its eyes" (55). ]
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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