4738

5(2): Timber trees; Minor commercial timbers

Toona sinensis (Adr. Juss.) M.J. Roemer

This article should be read together with the article on the genus: Toona in the Handbook volume indicated above in this database.

Fam. nat. syn. monogr. 1: 139 (1846).

Cedrela sinensis Adr. Juss. (1830), Cedrela serrata Royle (1839), Toona serrata (Royle) M.J. Roemer (1846), Toona serrulata (Miq.) Harms (1896).

Indonesia: suren (general), ingul (Sumatra). Malaysia: surian bawang, surian wangi (Peninsular), rangau (Sabah).

Nepal, India, Burma (Myanmar), China, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java and Borneo (Sabah); planted as shade and wayside tree in India, Sri Lanka and Europe.

The timber is used for construction, furniture and implements. The leaves serve as a vegetable and as fodder. Various parts of the plant, especially the bark and roots, are used medicinally. The tree is also planted for shade and as an avenue tree.

A medium-sized to fairly large tree up to 40 m tall, with bole branchless for up to 20 m and up to 100 cm in diameter, bark surface fissured, greyish-brown to dark brown, bark with obnoxiously pungent odour when cut; leaflets serrate or dentate, rarely entire, glabrescent above or hairy on veins; petal margins, ovary and disk glabrous; columella of fruit convex without apical scarring, fruit valves smooth to minutely lenticellate; seed winged at one end. Toona sinensis occurs at 350—2500 m altitude, usually in primary montane forest, often near streams, but also in secondary forest. The density of wood from India is about 450 kg/m³ at 12% moisture content. See also the table on wood properties.

[36]Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1963–1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen.
[38]Bahadur, K.N., 1988. Monograph on the genus Toona (Meliaceae). Bishen Sing Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun. 251 pp.
[63]Bosbouwproefstation, 1948. Tabellarisch overzicht van de beste kiem-, bewaar- en verzendingswijze van zaad van een aantal boomsoorten en groenbemesters [Tabular summary of the best ways to germinate, store and send seed of some tree and green manure species]. Voorlopig rapport No 38. Bosbouwproefstation, Buitenzorg. 15 pp.
[140]Desch, H.E., 1941–1954. Manual of Malayan timbers. Malayan Forest Records No 15. 2 volumes. Malaya Publishing House Ltd., Singapore. 762 pp.
[146]Edmonds, J.M., 1993. The potential value of Toona species (Meliaceae) as multipurpose and plantation trees in Southeast Asia. Commonwealth Forestry Review 72(3): 181–186.
[195]Gibson, I.A.S., 1975. Diseases of forest trees widely planted as exotics in the tropics and southern hemisphere. Part I. Important members of the Myrtaceae, Leguminosae, Verbenaceae and Meliaceae. Commonwealth Mycological Institute, Kew & Commonwealth Forestry Institute, University of Oxford. 51 pp.
[218]Hardjowasono, M.S., 1942. Gewicht en volume van verschillende vrucht- en zaadsoorten [Weight and volume of fruits and seeds]. Korte mededelingen No 20. Bosbouwproefstation, Buitenzorg. 172 pp.
[331]Kramer, F., 1925. Kultuurproeven met industrie-, konstruktie- en luxe-houtsoorten [Investigations regarding the cultivation of different Javanese trees]. Mededeelingen No 12. Proefstation voor het Boschwezen, Buitenzorg. 99 pp.
[386]Longman, K.A. & Jeník, J., 1987. Tropical forest and its environment. 2nd edition. Longman Scientific and Technical, Essex. 347 pp.
[526]Research Institute of Wood Industry, 1988. Identification, properties and uses of some Southeast Asian woods. Chinese Academy of Forestry, Wan Shou Shan, Beijing & International Tropical Timber Organization, Yokohama. 201 pp.
[705]Whitmore, T.C. & Ng, F.S.P. (Editors), 1972–1989. Tree flora of Malaya. A manual for foresters. 2nd edition. 4 volumes. Malayan Forest Records No 26. Longman Malaysia SDN. Berhad, Kuala Lumpur & Petaling Jaya.

R.H.M.J. Lemmens

Lemmens, R.H.M.J., 1995. Toona sinensis (Adr. Juss.) M.J. Roemer. In: Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Soerianegara, I. and Wong, W.C. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 5(2): Timber trees; Minor commercial timbers. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea