"Around the World in 80 Trees" tells us that this tree played a critical role in the development of Middle Eastern civilisation. Its native range is now confined to isolated mountains in Lebanon, Syria and southern Turkey. Vast cedar forests once stretched across the Eastern Mediterranean to southern Iran.

Cedar had everything, which is probably the reason for its downfall. It tolerates both summer drought and winter freezing. Its wood was a valuable commodity, used for building the palaces and temples of Assyria, Persia and Babylon, and the trading ships of the Phoenicians. The ancient Egyptians used its resin for embalming the pharaohs before their burial.

Over-exploitation of cedar is already evident in the 4000-year-old Sumerian "Epic of Gilgamesh." Conservation efforts were made including, in 118AD, the creation of an imperial cedar forest by the Roman emperor Hadrian. Perversely, it now seems that global warming may help to reverse its decline.

Apparently planted as a seed by a soldier returning from the Middle East after World War 1, this tree by Lake Te Koo Utu deserves our respect, and, given a chance, it may live another 2000 years.