Toona sureni

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Toona sureni
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Meliaceae
Genus: Toona
Species:
T. sureni
Binomial name
Toona sureni
Synonyms
  • Cedrela febrifuga
    Blume
  • Cedrela sureni
    (Blume) Burkill
  • Swietenia sureni
    Blume
  • Toona febrifuga
    (Blume) M.J. Roemer

Toona sureni is a species of tree in the mahogany family. It is native to South Asia, Indochina, Malesia, China, and Papua New Guinea. It is commonly known as the suren toon, surian, limpaga, iron redwood or the red cedar (a name also shared with various other trees). It is also known as the Indonesian mahogany [1] or the Vietnamese mahogany. The species is a valuable timber tree.

Contents

Taxonomy

Toona sureni belongs to the toon genus Toona of the mahogany family Meliaceae. [2] It was first described by the German-Dutch botanist Carl Ludwig Blume in 1823 as Swietenia sureni. [3] [4] It was transferred to the genus Toona in 1917 by the American botanist Elmer Drew Merrill. [5] [6]

Description

Toona sureni is a medium-sized to large tree, reaching a maximum height of around 40 to 60 m (130 to 200 ft) and a diameter of 100 to 300 cm (39 to 118 in). [7] The bole possesses buttress roots up to a height of 2 m (6.6 ft) and remains unbranched and straight up to a height of 20 to 30 m (66 to 98 ft). [8]

1907 illustration of a Toona sureni flower Toona sureni flower.png
1907 illustration of a Toona sureni flower

The bark is fibrous and flaky in texture with numerous vertical fissures. It is pale brown to whitish or grayish brown in color. When cut, the bark and sapwood produce a pleasant odor reminiscent of cinnamon. The sap is colorless and does not change in color after being exposed to air. [8] [9] The sapwood of Toona sureni is white to pinkish or light red in color, while the heartwood is light red or brown. [7] [10]

The leaves are pinnate and large, with a length of about 29 to 84 cm (11 to 33 in). They are arranged spirally, usually clustered at the ends of twigs. The leaflets are lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate in shape. They are arranged somewhat opposite each other, usually in pairs of 6 to 9, with a maximum of 12 pairs. [9] [10] The upper and lower surfaces of the leaflet midribs are characteristically hairy (pilose). [11]

The inflorescence are terminal, occurring at the tips of branchlets. They are paniculate and pendant, reaching a length of around 40 cm (16 in). [8] The individual flowers are small (around 4 to 5 mm (0.16 to 0.20 in) in length), and are sweetly fragrant. [9] [10] Flowers are individually unisexual, though both male and female flowers occur in the same plant. [8]

The fruits are leathery capsules, around 25 mm (0.98 in) long and brown in color. Each contains more than 100 seeds. The seeds are narrow and usually 11 to 20 mm (0.43 to 0.79 in) in length, with a maximum length of 22 mm (0.87 in); and 1 to 10 mm (0.039 to 0.394 in) in diameter. They are winged at both ends (subequal). [8]

Ecology

Toona sureni is deciduous, shedding their leaves during the dry season (usually February to March or September to October). They produce flowers and fruits twice each year (usually during December to February and April to September). [7]

Distribution and habitat

Toona sureni is native to South Asia (India, Bhutan, and Nepal); Indochina (Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam); China (Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, and Yunnan); Malesia (Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines); and Papua New Guinea. [10] They are usually found in primary forests on open hillsides, slopes, ravines, and riverbanks at an altitude of 1,200 to 2,700 m (3,900 to 8,900 ft) asl. They may sometimes also be found in secondary semi-evergreen forests. [7] [9] [10] [11]

Names

The tree is commonly known in English as the "suren toon" (or "suren toona"), "surian", "limpaga", "iron redwood" or the "red cedar". [7] It is also sometimes known as the "Indonesian mahogany" or the "Vietnamese mahogany", [1] [12] though it is not a true mahogany (genus Swietenia ). Local names include suren in Indonesia, ye tama in Burma, danupra in the Philippines, surian (สุเหรียน) in Thailand, surian wangi in Malaysia, [7] [11] and zi chun (紫椿) in China. [10]

Uses

Toona sureni, like other members of the mahogany family, are valuable timber trees. They are a source of high quality commercial hardwoods used for high-end furniture work, interior finishing, decorative paneling, musical instruments such as Djembe, [13] and other wood crafts. [7]

The bark extract is also used in traditional medicine as an astringent, purgative, antirheumatic, and for treating gastrointestinal ailments like diarrhea and dysentery. The leaf extracts are used as antibacterial poultices. [10]

They are also planted as ornamentals and shade trees, as well as being used for intercropping. [7]

Related Research Articles

Mahogany timber of tropical hardwood species in the genus Swietenia

Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus Swietenia, indigenous to the Americas and part of the pantropical chinaberry family, Meliaceae.

Meliaceae Family of flowering plants comprising the chinaberry tree

Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs in the order Sapindales.

<i>Hoya</i> (plant)

Hoya is a genus of 200–300 species of tropical plants in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae. Most are native to several countries of Asia such as Philippines, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Polynesia, New Guinea, and vast variety of species could also be found in Australia.

<i>Toona</i>

Toona, commonly known as redcedar, toon or toona, is a genus in the mahogany family, Meliaceae, native from Afghanistan south to India, and east to North Korea, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia. In older texts, the genus was often incorporated within a wider circumscription of the related genus Cedrela, but that genus is now restricted to species from the Americas.

Mahogany refers to dark-colored wood from various types of tree.

<i>Breynia</i>

Breynia is a plant genus in the family Phyllanthaceae, first described in 1776. It is native to Southeast Asia, China, the Indian Subcontinent, Papuasia, Australia, and the island of Réunion.

<i>Swietenia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the chinaberry family Meliaceae

Swietenia is a genus of trees in the chinaberry family, Meliaceae. It occurs natively in the Neotropics, from southern Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America south to Bolivia. The genus is named for Dutch-Austrian physician Gerard van Swieten (1700-1772). The wood of Swietenia trees is known as mahogany.

<i>Dysoxylum</i> Genus of plants

Dysoxylum is a flowering plant genus of trees and shrubs from the mahogany family, Meliaceae.

<i>Chionanthus</i> Genus of trees

Chionanthus, common name: fringetrees, is a genus of about 150 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae.

<i>Toona ciliata</i> Species of tree

Toona ciliata is a forest tree in the mahogany family which grows throughout southern Asia from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea and Australia.

<i>Toona sinensis</i> Species of tree

Toona sinensis, commonly called Chinese mahogany, Chinese cedar, Chinese toon, beef and onion plant, or red toon is a species of Toona native to eastern and southeastern Asia, from North Korea south through most of eastern, central and southwestern China to Nepal, northeastern India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and western Indonesia.

<i>Barringtonia</i>

Barringtonia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lecythidaceae first described as a genus with this name in 1775. It is native to Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and various islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The genus name commemorates Daines Barrington.

<i>Aglaia argentea</i>

Aglaia argentea is commonly known as Silver Boodyara, Bekak, or Koping-koping. [5] It is a tropical wild grown evergreen native to Australia, throughout East Asia and in several Pacific islands.[6]

<i>Swietenia macrophylla</i> Species of plant

Swietenia macrophylla, commonly known as mahogany, Honduran mahogany, Honduras mahogany, big-leaf mahogany, or West Indian mahogany, is a species of plant in the Meliaceae family. It is one of three species that yields genuine mahogany timber (Swietenia), the others being Swietenia mahagoni and Swietenia humilis. It is native to South America, Mexico and Central America, but naturalized in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Hawaii, and cultivated in plantations and wind-breaks elsewhere.

<i>Toona calantas</i>

Toona calantas is a species of tree in the mahogany family. It is found in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. It is threatened by habitat loss. It is commonly known as kalantas, lanipga, Philippine cedar, or Philippine mahogany.

Indian mahogany is the common name for two species of trees in the family Meliaceae:

Amaracarpus is a genus of shrubs, treelets or trees in the family Rubiaceae. It was described by Carl Ludwig Blume in 1826. Most of the species are endemic to New Guinea but a few have wider ranges in Southeast Asia from Myanmar (Burma) and the Andaman Islands across Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Melanesia, Christmas Island, Queensland and Vanuatu. One species also occurs in the Seychelles. Several species were published years ago but are today not represented by any type specimens or other known existing material.

<i>Dysoxylum parasiticum</i> Species of tree

Dysoxylum parasiticum, known as yellow mahogany, is a species of rainforest trees in the family Meliaceae. The specific epithet parasiticum is from the Latin meaning "parasitic", referring to the idea that the flowers are parasitic on another tree species.

Spathiostemon javensis is a plant that can grow as a shrub or a tree in the tribe Acalypheae of the family Euphorbiaceae. It is endemic to Malesia, occurring from the Bismarck Archipelago to New Guinea, Wallacea and into Southeast Asia. It is often common in the understorey of forests. The wood is used in constructions.

References

  1. 1 2 Michel H. Porcher (October 7, 2005). "Sorting Toona names". Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database. The University of Melbourne. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  2. "Toona sureni (Blume) Merr". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  3. Tropicos.org. "Swietenia sureni Blume". Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  4. Carl Ludwig Blume (1823). Catalogus van eenige der Merkwaardigste Zoo. Batavia. p. 72.
  5. Tropicos.org. "Toona sureni (Blume) Merr". Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  6. Elmer Drew Merrill (1917). An interpretation of Rumphius's Herbarium Amboinense. Manila: Bureau of Printing. p.  305.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 C. Orwa; A. Mutua; R. Kindt; R. Jamnadass & S. Anthony (2009). "Toona sureni" (PDF). Agroforestry Database 4.0. World Agroforestry Centre.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Barry Conn & Kipiro Damas. "PNGTreesKey – Toona sureni (Blume) Merr". Guide to trees of Papua New Guinea. Plants of Papua New Guinea. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 4 ASEAN Tropical Plant Database. "Toona sureni (Blume) Merr". National Institute of Environmental Research, Republic of Korea. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Peng Hua & Jennifer M. Edmonds (2008). "Toona (Endlicher) M. Roemer, Fam. Nat. Syn. Monogr. 1: 131. 1846" (PDF). In Wu Zhengyi; Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan (eds.). Flora of China, Volume 11: Oxalidaceae through Aceraceae. Flora of China (中国植物志). Missouri Botanical Garden. pp. 112–115. ISBN   9781930723733.
  11. 1 2 3 Thawatchai Wongprasert; Chamlong Phengklai & Thirawat Boonthavikoon (2011). "A synoptic account of the Meliaceae of Thailand" (PDF). Thai Forest Bulletin (Botany). 39: 210–266.
  12. Sahana Parvin; Xin-Nian ZengI & Md. Touhidul Islam (2012). "Bioactivity of Indonesian mahogany, Toona sureni (Blume) (Meliaceae), against the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae)". Revista Brasileira de Entomologia. 56 (3): 354–358. doi: 10.1590/S0085-56262012005000047 .
  13. World, Djembe. "How to Make Djembe". Djembe World, Indonesia.