Red Cedar. 



(Cedrela Toona, Roxb.) 



This the first cabinet timber ever used in Australia was the pride of the early 

 timber-getters, and was for long the champion of the "brushes" as regards its dimensions, 

 but almost all the giants of its race have fallen a victim to the ruthless war of the axe- 

 man. Traces of this monarch of the forest will, however, still remain with us, for its 

 name is perpetuated in such localities as Cedar Gully and Cedar Mountain, and these are 

 fairly common in the Coast districts wherever the Cedar previously flourished, but is now a 

 tree of the past. It has always appealed to cabinet makers and joiners as par excellence 

 amongst our timbers for this particular purpose, and no native timber has been so extensively 

 used as this one in cabinet work. Nor is this to be wondered at, for no finer timber exists in 

 Australia. It has a deep red colour, is specifically light, open, soft, easily worked or dressed, 

 and takes a beautiful polish, and what is most dear to the heart of the cabinetmaker, has very 

 often a beautiful figure. Some of the finest office decorations, counters, &c., of Sydney, 

 Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide, and Perth, are made from Cedar. In the early days 

 of the Colony it was used for doors, tables, wainscotting, panels, and stairs, but it is too soft 

 for the latter. For carving it has no compeers, some beautifully carved newel posts made 

 from it can be seen in our leading offices. It is also a fair timber for show-case framing. It is 

 a rapid growing tree, and a specimen in the Museum cut from a tree 19 years old measures over 

 2 feet in diameter. See remarks under frontispiece. 



Description of the Tree. A giant, if not the giant, tree of the Australian brushes. 

 It is essentially a brush and gully tree. Leaves pinnate, large, deciduous : leaflets eleven 

 to seventeen, opposite, irregularly alternate, lanceolate oblique, up to 5 inches long, pale 

 underneath, thin. Flowers in a large, many-flowered pyramidal panicle, glabrous. 

 Sepals orbicular, ciliate, very small. Petals white or pinkish, under } inch long. Fruit 

 a capsule, glabrous, oblong, i to ij inches long. 



Geographical Range. It occurs in the brushes of the east Coast of Australia, 

 almost as far south as the Victorian border. 



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