Toona ciliata is a forest tree in the Meliaceae family which grows throughout South Asia from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea and Australia.
Names
It is commonly known as the
red cedar (a name shared by other trees),
tone,
toon or
toona (also applied to other members of the genus
Toona),
Australian red cedar,
,
Indian cedar,
Moulmein cedar or the
Queensland red cedar. It is also known as
Indian mahogany.
Indigenous Australian names include
Polai in the
Illawarra.
Woolia on the
Richmond River,
Mamin &
Mugurpul near
Brisbane, and
Woota at Wide Bay.
[Cedar & the Cedar Getters - James Jervis. Abridged from the J & Proc. of Roy. Austr. Hist. Soc. 25 (2), 1940. Historical Records of New South Wales, Vol.2, page 283. Forestry Commission of New South Wales] Also called
Ai saria in
East Timor.
Description
The tree has extended
compound leaves up to 90 cm with 10-14 pairs of leaflets which are narrow and taper towards the tip. Each leaflet is between 4.5 and 16 cm long. The species can grow to around in height and its trunk can reach in girth with large branches that create a spreading crown. It is one of Australia's few native
deciduous trees, with the leaves falling in autumn (late March) and growing back in spring (early September). The new leaf growth is reddish pink in colour.
The tree produces masses of white flowers that are very small and tubular in shape. The fruits are green capsules which senesces to a brown colour and tear open into star shape to release seeds, which are small and winged.[ Toona ciliata M.Roem. BioNET-EAFRINET - Keys and Factsheets]
Habitat
In Australia, the tree's natural habitat is
subtropical tropical forest of New South Wales and
Queensland, much of which has been extensively cleared. The Australian population was formerly treated as a distinct
species under the name
Toona australis.
The southernmost limit of natural distribution is on basaltic soils, growing west of the
Princes Highway near the village of Termeil, south of
Ulladulla, southern
Illawarra, New South Wales.
[Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Gardens] It also occurs naturally at
Norfolk Island.
The largest recorded
T. ciliata tree in Australia grew near Nulla Nulla Creek, west of Kempsey, New South Wales and was felled in 1883.
It grows best in an environment with high light levels, however in the relative darkness of the rainforest understorey, it is less susceptible to attack by the cedar tip moth. The cedar tip moth lays its eggs on the tree's leading shoot, allowing the larvae to burrow into the stem. This causes dieback and a multi-branched tree with little commercial value.
Uses
The timber is red in colour, easy to work and very highly valued. It was used extensively for furniture, wood panelling and construction, including shipbuilding, and was referred to as "red gold" by Australian settlers.
Heavily and unsustainably exploited in the 19th and early 20th centuries, almost all the large trees have been cut out and the species is essentially commercially extinct.
[Vader, John. (1987). Red Cedar. The Tree of Australia's History. Reed: Sydney. ] Availability of this timber is now limited.
Timber is currently also harvested in New Guinea.
Although it is not generally a viable plantation species, trees are regularly harvested by Forestry in the Atherton region of Queensland.
Other areas
The red cedar is widely planted in subtropical and tropical parts of the world as a shade tree and for its fast-growing aspect. It is grown in the
Hawaiian Islands of the United States, and southern and eastern Africa. In parts of
Zimbabwe and
South Africa, it has naturalised; growing to maturity and spreading from seed.
Reproduction and dispersal
Toona ciliata reproduces by seed. It is a prolific seed producer and establishes readily.
[ Jagdev Saw Mills]
Gallery
See also
External links
