Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata)

Toona ciliata, tun or red cedar, is a tall deciduous timber tree of the mahogany family, growing from India to Australia. Its light, pinkish-red, aromatic wood was so prized in Australia that loggers called it red gold, and wild stands there were nearly cleared. In India it is a valued timber and shade tree, and its flowers yield a dye.

Botanical name: Toona ciliata M.Roem.
Family: Meliaceae
Tamil: Santhana vembu
Hindi: Tun
Parts used: Timber
Habit: Meliaceae timber; vembu is a shop word
Last updated: 2026-10-25

How to recognise Australian red cedar

It is a large tree with a straight trunk and grey-brown, flaking bark.

The leaves are long and pinnate, with many pairs of pointed, lopsided leaflets, and they fall in the dry season.

Young leaves often flush pinkish-red before turning green.

Small, white, honey-scented flowers come in large, hanging sprays when the new leaves appear.

The fruit is a woody capsule that splits into five valves, releasing seeds with a wing at each end.

Traditional use of Australian red cedar

Timber

The light, durable, easily worked wood is used for furniture, carving, musical instruments, boxes and boats.

Indian and Australian forestry

Dye

The flowers have been used in India to make a yellow to red dye for cloth.

Indian dye practice

Modern notes on Australian red cedar

In Australia wild red cedar was logged almost to exhaustion in the nineteenth century. Plantations are limited by the cedar tip moth, which attacks young shoots.

Foresters in India and elsewhere grow it in mixed plantations and agroforestry.

Australian red cedar safety

There is no established food or medical use.

Ecology and sourcing

It grows in moist deciduous and semi-evergreen forest from the Himalayan foothills and the Western Ghats to Southeast Asia and eastern Australia.

Its winged seeds are carried by the wind, and seedlings need light gaps to establish.

Related plants

Also in Meliaceae

Questions about Australian red cedar

Is Australian red cedar a true cedar?

No. True cedars are conifers. Toona is in the mahogany family.

What older names does Toona ciliata go by?

Cedrela toona.

Why was Australian red cedar called red gold?

Its valuable timber in Australia.

Where does Australian red cedar grow in India?

In the Himalayan foothills, the north-east and the Western Ghats, and in plantations.

Sources

Educational page about a plant. It is not medical advice, not a diagnosis, and not an offer to sell. Traditional use is historical. If you need care, ask a licensed clinician. Questions: hello@meevamed.com.