Arar Trees

Tetraclinis articulata (species), “Sandarac Gum Tree”, “Arar Tree”, “Sandarac”

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Tetraclinis (also called arar, araar or Sictus tree) is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae, containing only one species, Tetraclinis articulata, also known as Thuja articulata, sandarac, sandarac tree or Barbary thuja, endemic to the western Mediterranean region. It is native to northwestern Africa in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, with two small outlying populations on Malta, and near Cartagena in southeast Spain. It grows at relatively low altitudes in a hot, dry subtropical Mediterranean climate.Its closest relatives are Platycladus, Microbiota, and Calocedrus, with the closest resemblance to the latter. In older texts, it was sometimes treated in Thuja or Callitris, but it is less closely related to those genera. It is a…