CEDRELA
- Cedrela, Linnæus, Gen. Pl. 109 (1764); Bentham et Hooker, Gen. Pl. i. 339 (1862).
- Toona, Roemer, Synops. i. 131 (1846).
Trees, belonging to the order Meliaceæ, with unequally pinnate leaves, without stipules, and composed of numerous opposite or sub-opposite stalked leaflets.
Flowers in panicles, perfect, regular Calyx short, four- to five-cleft. Petals, four to five, nearly erect, imbricated, free. Stamens, four to six, free, inserted at the top of a four- to six-lobed hypogynous disc ; filaments subulate, anthers versatile. Ovary sessile on the disc, five-celled, each cell containing in two series eight to twelve pendulous ovules. Fruit, a coriaceous or woody capsule, composed externally of five valves, and almost filled up internally by a central column, between which and the valves are five thin cells, containing the seeds, which are numerous, compressed, and with one or two wings.
The genus is divided into two sections:—
I. Eu-Cedrela.—Seed with a single wing on its lower side. Nine species in tropical America.
II. Toona.—Seed with either two wings, one at each end, or with a single wing above. Eight species in India, Indo-China, China, and Australia, all in tropical regions except Cedrela sinensis.
CEDRELA SINENSIS
- Cedrela sinensis, A. Jussieu, Mém. Mus. Par. xix. 255, 294 (1830): Rev. Hort. 1891, p. 573, figs. 150, 151, 152; Hemsley, Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) xxiii. 114 (1886).
- Toona sinensis, Roemer, Synops. i. 138, 139 (1846); Diels, Flora von Central China, 425 (1901).
- Ailanthus flavescens, Carrière, Rev. Hort. 1865, p. 366.
A tree of moderate size, attaining in China a height of 60 to 70 feet. Bark scaling off in narrow longitudinal strips, 1 to 2 inches in width, and leaving exposed in parts the reddish inner bark below. Young shoots covered with minute pubes- cence. Leaves (Plate 125, fig. 7), large, 1 to 2 feet in length. Leaflets, eleven to nineteen, about 4 inches long, on pubescent stalklets (nearly ¼ inch long), opposite or sub-opposite, divided into two unequal parts by the midrib, the upper part larger and rounded at the base, the other part usually cuneate at the base; apex
