red cedar
a. A North American species of juniper, esp. Juniperus virginiana, or the western conifer, Thuja plicata. Also attrib. b. The toon-tree or Moulmein cedar, Cedrela toona. c. An Australian timber-tree, Flindersia australis.
| 1682 S. Wilson Acct. Province Carolina in Amer. 12 This Country hath..divers sorts of lasting Timber that England hath not, as Cedar white and red, Cypress, Locust, Bay and Laurel Trees. 1717 Petiveriana iii. 11/2 Red Cedar. An Evergreen, its Wood sweet, very durable. 1832 Planting 122 in Lib. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, The red cedar..attains to the size of a timber tree in deep sandy loam soils. 1843 Holtzapffel Turning I. 80 The wood of Juniperus virginiana is called Red or Pencil Cedar. In New South Wales the term..red cedar [is applied] to that of Flindersia australis, as well as to the wood of the Toon-tree, or Cedrela Toona. 1884 C. S. Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 7 The hemlock, and the red cedar (Thuya) are still important elements of the forests. 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Native Plants 400 Cedrela Toona... The ‘Cedar’, or ‘Red Cedar’ (a universal appellation in Australia). 1904 E. Step Wayside & Woodland Trees 81 The Virginian Juniper..or ‘Red Cedar’, as it is called on the American continent, is..frequently planted in our parks and gardens. 1958 G. A. Petrides Field Guide Trees & Shrubs 22 The junipers (including the Red Cedar) may bear either scaly or hollowed 3-sided needles. 1969 T. H. Everett Living Trees of World iv. 63/1 Western red-cedar..is native along the Pacific Coast of North America. 1972 Ecology LIII. 1141/2 ‘Fruits’ of pasture juniper and red cedar are important foods for red squirrels. |
| attrib. 1797 Deb. Congress U.S. 10 Feb. (1849) 2113 It would be expedient..to secure some of the lands in South Carolina and Georgia, well clothed with live oak and red cedar timber, for the purpose of building ships of war. 1825 Field's Geog. N. S. Wales App. 502 Red cedar tree. Cedrela toona. 1851 Knickerbocker XXXVII. 377 The country-bred traveller..inhales the odor of the red-cedar buckets. |