''Chukrasia tabularis'', the Indian mahogany, is a deciduous,

tropical forest Tropical forests (a.k.a. jungle) are forested landscapes in tropical regions: ''i.e.'' land areas approximately bounded by the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds. Some tropical fore ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

species in the family

Meliaceae Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs (and a few herbaceous plants, mangroves) in the order Sapindales. They are characterised by alternate, usually pinnate leaves without stipules, and by syncar ...

. It is native to

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

, China, India,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, Laos,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, Sri Lanka,

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. Also introduced to many western countries such as

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, Costa Rica,

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

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, and United States. The

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

''Chukrasia'' is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

, with previously recognised species now considered to be synonyms. "''C. velutina''" (this species) is listed as the provincial flower and tree of Phrae Province,

and is widely used in

Ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...

as an important medicinal plant.

Description

The trees are tall with a cylindrical bole and spreading crown. ''C. velutina'' leaves are abruptly pinnate or bipinnate with leaflets that alternate or are subopposite, entire and unequal at the base. The erect, oblong

flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

, which are rather large and born in terminal panicles, possess four to five petals. Mature fruits are a septifragally three to five valved capsule. Chukrasia tabularis north Bengal AJTJ.JPG Chukrasia tabularis leaves.jpg Konda Vepa (Telugu- కొండ వేప) (5522453646).jpg Chikrasi (Hindi- चिकरासी) (5522451604).jpg Amaradrumamu (Telugu- అమరద్రుమము) (5658347442).jpg

Chemical constituents

Leaves of ''C. velutina'' contain

quercetin Quercetin is a plant flavonol from the flavonoid group of polyphenols. It is found in many fruits, vegetables, leaves, seeds, and grains; capers, red onions, and kale are common foods containing appreciable amounts of it. It has a bitter flavor ...

and its 3-galactoside, galloyl glucoside,

tannic acid Tannic acid is a specific form of tannin, a type of polyphenol. Its weak acidity ( pKa around 6) is due to the numerous phenol groups in the structure. The chemical formula for commercial tannic acid is often given as C76H52O46, which corresp ...

and a flavone. The bark contains sitosterol, melianone,

scopoletin Scopoletin is a coumarin. It found in the root of plants in the genus ''Scopolia'' such as ''Scopolia carniolica'' and ''Scopolia japonica'', in chicory, in ''Artemisia scoparia'', in the roots and leaves of stinging nettle ('' Urtica dioica''), i ...

, 6,7-dimethoxycoumarin, tetranorterpenes and tabularin. The wood contains bussein homologue and chukrasins A, B, C, D and F. The root contains a

triterpene Triterpenes are a class of chemical compounds composed of three terpene units with the molecular formula C30H48; they may also be thought of as consisting of six isoprene units. Animals, plants and fungi all produce triterpenes, including squa ...

, cedrelone. Seeds contain tetranorterpenes, phragmalin

ester In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an oxoacid (organic or inorganic) in which at least one hydroxyl group () is replaced by an alkoxy group (), as in the substitution reaction of a carboxylic acid and an alcohol. Glycerides a ...

s and 12 α-OAc-phyramalin. Four new meliacin esters 3,30-diisobutyrates and 3-isobutyrate-30-propionates of phragmalin and 12-acetoxyphragmalin have also been isolated from seeds.

Common names

*English - Bastard cedar, White cedar, East-Indian mahogany, Indian redwood, Burma almond wood, Chickrassy, Chittagong wood *Hindi - Chikrasi (चिकरासी) *Manipuri - Taimareng (তাঈমৰেঙ) *Telugu - Kondavepa *Tamil - Malei veppu (மலை வேப்பு) *Kannada - Kalgarike *Malayalam - Suvannakil *Myanmar - Yinmarbin (ယင်းမာပင်) (ယင္းမာ) *Bengali - Chikrassi *Assamese - Boga-poma *Sinhala - Hulan hik (හුලං හික් ) / Hirikita (හිරිකිත) *Vietnamese - Lát hoa

References

External links

Chukrasia tabularis A. Juss. - MELIACEAE
biotik.org {{Taxonbar, from1=Q4455675, from2=Q12701073 Meliaceae Plants described in 1846 Flora of tropical Asia Meliaceae genera Monotypic Sapindales genera Trees of China Trees of Nepal