Description: Deciduous or semi-evergreen trees, ± hairy.
Leaves alternate, usually paripinnate.
Flowers unisexual in pendent terminal thyrsiform panicles. Calyx free, or 4- or 5-lobed. Petals 5, fused at base to a short disc-like stipe. Stamens 5, free, inserted on disc. Ovary 5-locular, loculi with 8–12 ovules.
Fruit a capsule, membranous or thinly woody, 5-locular and 5-valved; central column 5-angled; seeds up to 8 per loculus, winged.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 5 species, tropical Asia to Australia. Australia: 1 species (native).
Red Cedar is highly prized for its timber, which is red and easily worked; it is especially valuable for furniture. This species was widely sought and cut in the early days of European settlement in N.S.W. Terminal buds of saplings are attacked by the tip moth, and this makes it virtually impossible to grow in plantations.
Text by M. J. Taylor & G. J. Harden
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Toona ciliata |
|
