The Cedars of God and the Tree of Life

I am not going completely biblical on you, these are some interesting tree stories and pictures.
As you probably know, I have an intense interest, some would say a gravitation towards historic or unusual trees.

The Cedars of God-
The name for a group of 400 ancient survivors, remnants of a forest that once covered mountainous
Northern Lebanon.

This old growth Cedar of Lebanon forest is all that remains of a massive forest that was plundered throughout early history. Cedars of Lebanon were prized for their wood/grain. The ancient Egyptians used them for ships, as did the Phoenicians. The wood was also prized by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. King Solomon used these trees for construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem.
Luckily, they are now protected, named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Several of these historic Cedars are 2,000 to 3,000 years old.



The Tree of Life-
This is an interesting photo, a tree growing in the middle of the desert, growing where nothing else can or wants to! This picture reminds me of Summer in Kansas, or a tree growing on the planet Mars.

This Mesquite tree is believed to be at least 500 years old. Growing in the middle of a desert in
Bahrain that is devoid of all other  trees for hundreds of miles.
There is no rational reason for this tree to be so massive or to be able to support itself in this harsh environment.The only explanation is that the roots have found a water source that no one else can seem to find.
The legend of this tree, believed to be true by many in the region, is that this massive, old Mesquite tree marks the  location of the Garden of Eden.