Barry Conn (NSW) & Kipiro Damas (LAE).
Guide to trees of Papua New Guinea
Copyright held by the authors, National Herbarium of New South Wales, and Papua New Guinea National Herbarium

Toona ciliata M.Roem.

Synops. Monogr. Vol. 1: 139 (1846)

Other Literature: J.M. Edwards, Flora Malesiana, Series 1 366-370

Family: Meliaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood Tradename: Red cedar

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 35 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 50 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 15 m long); buttresses buttresses present or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark white, grey, or greyish brown, rough, scaly or flaky or fissured; Subrhytidome (under-bark) pink or red; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0-12.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; cinnamon-like or pleasant; outer blaze red or brown, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze red or brown, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, yellow, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present, hairs sparse.

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, spiral (leaves occurring singly at a node and arranged spirally up the branchlet), compound (a leaf made up from two or more leaflets); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves pinnate (unbranched with more than three leaflets); petiolule not swollen; rachis present, absent, absent; leaves without a terminal leaflet (the number of leaflets even - paripinnate), broadest below middle, (7.0-) 9.0-12.0 (-16.0) cm, (2.2-) 3.0-5.0 (-6.0) cm, leaflets opposite, symmetric; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface dull dark green, indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense; absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.5-5.0 (-6.0) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (4-5 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white, pale yellow, or cream-coloured; 5, free; stamens 5 (male flowers; 5 sterile anthers in female flowers), present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 5; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 15.0-20.0 (-25.0) mm long, red or brown, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule; seeds many 100, to about 5 mm long (5-7 mm long, excluding wings) or much more than 10 mm long (11-19 mm long, including wings), winged (wings 6-10 mm long, unequal), narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (1-3 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe, Central & New Britain.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details