Tree of the Month: Red Cedar
Toona Ciliata (Red Cedar) is famous for its furniture timber. It also has a bloody history with the arrival of the first cedar cutters in the Illawarra in 1810 and the subsequent conflict with the Aboriginal people. Most of the cedars were cut down...
Toona Ciliata (Red Cedar) is famous for its furniture timber.
It also has a bloody history with the arrival of the first cedar cutters in the Illawarra in 1810 and the subsequent conflict with the Aboriginal people.
Most of the cedars were cut down and attempts to grow them commercially failed because of the Cedar Tip Moth, which does not kill the tree but causes it to become multi-stemmed, making it useless for timber.
Red Cedar is very fast growing in the right conditions and can grow to 50 metres. The juvenile tree has smooth bark, but as it matures, it becomes scaly and fissured.
There are some fine examples along Lady Carrington Drive in the Royal National Park as well as behind the Stanwell Park Kiosk planted in the 1980s.
It is one of the few native deciduous trees, with leaves falling in autumn and growing back in early December.
