Chukrasia tabularis
Content
Description
Tree to 40 m; bole to 25 m, fluted below, to 120 cm diam.
Bark dark brown, fissured vertically and scaling or cracking into rectangular blocks; inner bark red brown or pinkish; sapwood straw, heartwood yellow to reddish- brown.
Leaves 30–50 cm, with 6-12 leaflets on each side, ± short-pubescent; petiole 4–9 cm, ± terete, swollen at base.
Petals c. 12–16 mm long, narrowly oblong to subspathulate, creamy green or yellowish, often tinged pink, subglabrous or puberulent (especially on sectors exposed before anthesis).
Staminal tube glabrous, colour as petals, anthers c. 1 mm long, ob- long.
Ovary densely adpressed pubescent.
Capsule (2.5–)3.5–5 cm long, 2.5–4 cm diam., dark brown, lenticellate.
Seeds c. 1.2 cm long.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Borneo present; India present, Nepal present, east- and southeastwards from southern China and Hainan, Sri Lanka and the Andamans to western Malesia present, north present present
India and Nepal, east- and southeastwards from southern China and Hainan, Sri Lanka and the Andamans to western Malesia: Sumatra (north but rare), Malay Peninsula (but not in the south), Borneo (limestones of 1st Div., Sarawak).Sumatra (north), Malay Peninsula (north), Borneo
Uses
The timber is an export of Burma and India, where boles to 6 m girth have been recorded, and is known in world commerce as chickrassy, yinma or Chittagong wood. On seasoning, it tones down to a golden mahogany shade with a beautiful satiny sheen and is often figured handsomely. In China it is favoured for carving as well as construction work. The tree may be coppiced and it has been tried in tropical Australian plantations, but it is susceptible to the depredations of Hypsipela moths.
The tree yields a gum which is marketed mixed with others in India, while the flowers are the source of a dye. An extract from the twigs has proved an efficacious anti- feedant against Pieris rapae in southern China . The seeds contain some 50% oil but how this is utilized is unrecorded. The bark is astringent. In Europe, the plant has been cultivated as a greenhouse ornamental.
The tree yields a gum which is marketed mixed with others in India, while the flowers are the source of a dye. An extract from the twigs has proved an efficacious anti- feedant against Pieris rapae in southern China . The seeds contain some 50% oil but how this is utilized is unrecorded. The bark is astringent. In Europe, the plant has been cultivated as a greenhouse ornamental.
Notes
The trees from Sarawak and the Malay Peninsula are almost glabrous, whilst in Sumatra both this form and a densely pubescent one have been collected. The latter is paralleled by ‘Chukrasia velutina’ in India and Sri Lanka, where Livera has argued that it is possible to distinguish two species on the basis of pubescence, the number of anthers and of leaflets, the shape of the latter and so forth. Examination of more copious materials break down these distinctions and there are, in any case, a number of specimens intermediate in pubescence between these extremes. Both the most pubescent and the subglabrous are recorded from India, Burma, Thailand and southern China as well, again with intermediates. Those concerned with provenances for forestry may find it useful to use an informal classification for such forms, the pubescent of which may prove to be ecotypes of more seasonal forests (N.B.: If these forms were to be recognized at the species level, they would have to be known as C. nimmonii, not C. velutina). Moreover, bracts from populations in the west of the range appear, on the whole, to be longer, while, in Indochina, there are forms with smaller-than-average fruits and one with juvenile foliage apparently retained at maturity .
Citation
How & Chen 1955: p. 32. – In: Acta Phytotax. Sin. incl. var. velutina
Brandis 1906: Indian Trees. p 144
Livera 1925 – In: Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Perad. p 308
Talbot 1909: p. 248. – In: For. Fl. Bomb. t. 147
Kurz 1877 – In: For. Fl. Burma. 227.
A. Juss. 1832: p. 251. – In: Mém. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. f. 27
Prain 1903: Beng. Pl. p 223
Ridley 1922 – In: Fl. Malay Penins. p 415
King 1895: p. 88. – In: J. As. Soc. Beng. incl. var. velutina (M.Roem.) Theob.
Cooke 1902: Fl. Bomb. p 216
C.E.Parkinson 1923: For. Fl. Andam: 119. f. 37
Whitmore 1979 – In: Enum. Flow. Pl. Nepal. p 85
Drury 1864 – In: Handb. p 171
Pierre 1897 – In: Fl. For. Cochinch. t. 357, incl. var. dongnaiensis Pierre & var. microcarpa Pierre
Livera 1925 – In: Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Perad. p 308
Talbot 1902: Trees Bomb., ed. 2. p 117
Basu 1918: Ind. Med. Pl: 320. t. 229
Kanjilal et al. 1936 – In: Fl. Assam. p 241
Gamble 1915 – In: Fl. Madras. p 186
Wu 1977: p. 211. – In: Fl. Yunnan. incl. var. velutina
Kurz 1870: Rep. Veg. Andam. p 33
Harms 1940: p. 50. – In: Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam., ed. 2, 19bl. t. 4, f. S, T
Merr. & Chun 1934 – In: Sunyatsenia. p 32
C.DC. 1878: p. 726. – In: DC, Monogr. Phan. 1. incl. var. malaccana CDC
Laness. 1886: Pl. Util. Colon. Fr. p 312
Kurz 1877 – In: For. Fl. Burma. p 227
Pellegr. 1946: Fl. Indo-Chine: 721. incl. var. quadrivalvis Pellegr.
Theob. 1883: p. 586. – In: Mason, Burma, ed. 3, 2. incl. var. genuina Theob.
Harms 1896: p. 271. – In: Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 3, 4. f. S, T
Worth. 1959: Ceylon Trees. t. 125.
Mabb. 1989: p. 256. – In: Tree Fl. Malaya. f. 10.
Briq 1935 – In: Mém. Inst. Nat. Genev. p 34
Lévl. 1916: China Rev. Ann. 23.
Trimen 1893 – In: Handb. Fl. Ceylon. p 252
Thwaites 1858: Enum. p 61
A. Juss. 1831 – In: Linnaea. p 115
Hiern 1875 – In: Hook, f., Fl. Brit. India 1. p 568
Watt 1889 – In: Dict. Econ. Prod. India. p 268
Dalz. & Gibs. 1861: Bomb. Fl. p 38
Alston 1931 – In: Trim., Handb. Fl. Ceylon 6. p 46
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Chittenden 1951 – In: Dict. Gard. 459.
T.D. Penn. & Styles 1975: p. 522. – In: Blumea. t. 18c, d
Roxb. 1832 – In: Fl. Ind., ed. Carey. 399.
Merr. & Chun 1930: p. 61. – In: Sunyatsenia. incl. var. velutina
Worth. 1959: Ceylon Trees. t. 124
Anon. 1950: p. 152. – In: Wealth of India. t. 66
M.Roem. 1846 – In: Synops. Monogr. p 135
Pellegr. 1911: p. 780. – In: Fl. Indo-Chine. incl. var. attopeuensis, var. dongnaiensis (Pierre) Pellegr., var. microcarpa (Pierre) Pellegr., var. velutina (M.Roem.) Pellegr.
Brandis 1906: Indian Trees. p 145
Briq. 1935: p. 34. – In: Mém. Inst. Nat. Genev. 1.1, f. 9
Pierre 1897 – In: Fl. For. Cochinch. t. 357C, incl. var. attopeuensis Pierre
Bedd. 1869: Fl. Sylv: 9. t. 9
Anon. 1973 – In: Bull. Dept. Med. Pl. Nepal. p 12
Anon. 1972: p. 571. – In: Icon. Corm. Sin. incl. var. velutina
Wight 1840 – In: Ill. t. 56 (‘tubularis’
Burkill 1935: Dict. Econ. Prod. Malay Penins. p 524
Gamble 1902: Man. Ind. Timb., ed. 2. p 156
Drury 1864 – In: Handb. 171.
Talbot 1894: Trees Bomb., ed. 1. p 43
Cooke 1902: Fl. Bomb. p 216
Alston 1931 – In: Trim., Handb. Fl. Ceylon 6. p 46
Anon. 1974: p. 70. – In: Fl. Hainan. t. 572
J.Graham 1839: Cat. Pl. Bombay. p 32