Toona

Toona, commonly known as redcedar,[2] toon (also spelled tun) 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.[3] 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.

Toona
Toona ciliata (Type species)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Meliaceae
Subfamily: Cedreloideae
Genus: Toona
(Endl.) M.Roem.[1]
Species

See text

Synonyms

Surenus Kuntze

Uses
Chinese Toon tree (Toona sinensis)

Ornamental

Toona sinensis is of interest as by far the most cold-tolerant species in the Meliaceae, native in China as far north as 40°N in the Beijing area, where its tender shoots, called xiangchun (Chinese: 香椿; pinyin: xiāngchūn), are a traditional local leaf vegetable. It is the only member of the family that can be cultivated successfully in northern Europe, where it is sometimes planted as an ornamental tree in parks and avenues. Until recently, it had no widespread English common name, though Chinese Mahogany (reflecting its botanical relationship) is now used (e.g. Rushforth 1999).[4]

Wood

Toona ciliata is an important timber tree. It provides a valuable hardwood used for furniture, ornamental panelling, shipbuilding, and musical instruments like the sitar, rudra veena, and drums. Due to the restrictions in recent years on the use of natively-grown American mahogany,[5] it has become one of the common mahogany replacements in electric guitar manufacturing.

Medicine and food

Toona sinensis is used in Chinese traditional medicine and eaten as a vegetable in China (leaves and shoots).

Species

The following include accepted species in the Plant List:

  • Toona australis (F. Muell.) Harms
  • Toona calantas Merr. & Rolfe – kalantas, Philippine mahogany, Philippine cedar[6]
  • Toona ciliata M.Roem. (syn. T. australis) – Australian red cedar, Indian mahogany[7]
  • Toona fargesii A. Chev. – hong hua xiang chun[8]
  • Toona sinensis (A.Juss.) M.Roem. – Chinese mahogany or Chinese toon
  • Toona sureni (Blume) Merr. (syn. T. febrifuga) – Suren, Indonesian mahogany, Vietnamese mahogany[9]
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References
  1. "Genus: Toona (Endl.) M. Roem". Germplasm Resources Information Network. 1996-09-17. Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2011-04-21.
  2. "Toona". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  3. Mabberley, David (2008). Mabberley's Plant-Book (3 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 863. ISBN 978-0-521-82071-4.
  4. Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. London: HarperCollins.
  5. http://www.cites.org/eng/prog/mwg.php
  6. ASEAN Tropical Plant Database. "Toona calantas Merr. & Rolfe". National Institute of Environmental Research, Republic of Korea. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
  7. "Toona ciliata Roem". India Biodiversity Portal. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
  8. "Tropicos".
  9. "GRIN Species Records of Toona". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2011-04-21.
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