Chukrasia tabularis A. Juss.

The "Chittagong wood tree" yields valuable timber for making furniture, plywood, carving planks and wood-work of railway carriages. A yellow trans-parent gum is obtained from it and the astringent bark is medicinal.

The timber is valuable for making furniture, plywood, carving planks, and woodwork in railway carriages. A yellow transparent gum is obtained from the sap; the astringent bark is medicinal.

Large deciduous tree. Leaves pinnate, bi- or tri-pinnate, 15-45 cm long; leaflets 10-24, ovate, 4-13 cm long, acute to acuminate, entire, oblique, lower surface pubescent. Panicles shorter than the leaves. Calyx puberulous; c. 2 mm long. Petals linear-oblong to spathulate, 12 mm long, 5-6 mm broad, creamish. Staminal tube 10-toothed. Ovary elongate, hairy, 3-5-locular. Capsule 2.5-4 cm long, usually 3-valved, ovoid, woody. Seeds many, c. 3 cm long, broadly winged.

Trees to 25 m tall. Bark of old branches exfoliating. Young branches reddish brown, glabrous, with pale lenticels. Leaves usually 30-50 cm; petiole cylindric, 4.5-7 cm; leaflets 10-16; petiolules 4-8 mm; leaflet blades ovate to oblong-lanceolate, 7-12 × 3-5 cm, papery, both surfaces glabrous or abaxially pubescent, secondary veins 10-15 on each side of midvein and abaxially prominent, base oblique, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate. Thyrses lax, ca. 1/2 as long as leaves, branches glabrous or subglabrous; peduncle short; bracts linear, caducous. Flowers 1.2-1.5 cm, fragrant. Pedicel short, jointed. Calyx ca. 2 mm, puberulent. Petals cream-colored to ± lavender, linear-oblong to spatulate, 12-15 × 5-6 mm. Staminal tube cylindric, glabrous, apex truncate; anthers 10, oblong, inserted near apex of tube. Ovary on a short disk, elongate, covered with trichomes; style cylindric, short, thick, covered with trichomes; stigma as high as anthers, capitate, apically 3-lobed. Capsule yellowish gray to brown, subglobose to oblong, ca. 4.5 × 3.5-4 cm, usually 3-valved, woody, surface coarse and verrucose, many seeded. Seeds flat, oblong, ca. 3 × 0.5 mm, broadly winged. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Jan.

Nepal, India, east to S. China, Malaysia.

Distribution: Burma, Ceylon, Andamans, Malaya, China, India and East and West Pakistan.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, S Guizhou, Hainan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].

400-900 m

Fl. Per. Feb.-April.

Mixed evergreen broad-leaved and deciduous forests, sparse forests in hilly regions; 300-1600 m.

Chickrassia nimmonii J. Graham ex Wight; C. tabularis Wight & Arnott; C. tabularis var. velutina (M. Roemer) King; C. velutina M. Roemer; Chukrasia tabularis var. velutina (M. Roemer) Pellegrin; C. velutina (M. Roemer) C. Candolle; Dysoxylum esquirolii H. Léveillé.