English: Chinese Cedar; Chinese Toon tree; Chinese Mahogany.
Chinese: xiangchun.
Region: east Asia, China, northern India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Afghanistan, India, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, eastern Australia.
Habitat: primary montane forests, on steep hillsides or open slopes, sometimes near streams; in ravines, mixed or secondary forests, disturbed areas; at elevations from 100 to 2900 metres; tolerant of frost to about -25°C; upland in the tropics, also at lower elevations in China; fertile, rich, loamy, calcareous, well-drained soils; sunny position.
Content: vitamin A; leaves have 6% protein, 1% fat, 6.6% carbohydrate, 1.5% ash.
Use: medicine; insecticide; young shoots and leaves, cooked as vegetable with onion flavour or as a tea; ornamental, tree for shade; wood is valuable timber for making furniture, window frames, bridge construction, joinery, furniture, cabinetwork, decorative veneers, racing boats, musical instruments, patternmaking; wood is delicately scented and is burnt in temples as an incense.
BotanyDeciduous tree; 40 metres tall; fast growing; long-lived; resist all insects and diseases; most cold-tolerant of
Meliaceae.
Stem: 150 cm in diameter; unbranched for up to 20 metres; usually buttressed; heartwood is light brick red, rich reddish brown with age, clearly demarcated from the pinkish, greyish white, or yellow brown sapwood, moderately durable, vulnerable to termite and borer attack; wood texture is coarse and uneven, lustrous, grain generally straight to somewhat interlocked, fragrant cedary odour, pronounced when fresh, characteristic acrid taste; wood works well, some gumming of cutters, dresses smoothly, easy to nail, screw, and glue; sapwood is cream-coloured to red, fibrous, smelling strongly of garlic and pepper when cut; wood is very durable, easily worked, has a good polish, very valuable timber, resembling mahogany.
Leaves: 8-20 leaflets.
Flowers: rich scent.
TaxonomyToona exhibit a phenomenal range of morphological variation, both within and between trees of the same population; phenotypic plasticity and genetic variation are responsible for confusion.