Cedrela sinensis Juss.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Cedrela sinensis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cedrela/cedrela-sinensis/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Genus

Common Names

  • Chinese Cedar

Synonyms

  • Ailanthus flavescens Carr.
  • Toona sinensis (Juss.) Roem.

Other taxa in genus

    Glossary

    apex
    (pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
    calcareous
    Relating to lime- or chalk-rich soils or water.
    capsule
    Dry dehiscent fruit; formed from syncarpous ovary.
    entire
    With an unbroken margin.
    glabrous
    Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
    glandular
    Bearing glands.
    lanceolate
    Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
    midrib
    midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.
    ovate
    Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
    imparipinnate
    Odd-pinnate; (of a compound leaf) with a central rachis and an uneven number of leaflets due to the presence of a terminal leaflet. (Cf. paripinnate.)
    imparipinnate
    Odd-pinnate; (of a compound leaf) with a central rachis and an uneven number of leaflets due to the presence of a terminal leaflet. (Cf. paripinnate.)

    References

    There are no active references in this article.

    Credits

    Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

    Recommended citation
    'Cedrela sinensis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cedrela/cedrela-sinensis/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

    A handsome deciduous tree reaching 60 to 70 ft in height in China, and at present more than half as high in Britain; young branchlets downy; old bark peeling off in long strips. Leaves pinnate, 1 to 2 ft long, composed of from five to twelve pairs of leaflets, often of even numbers on one leaf (paripinnate). Leaflets very shortly stalked, 212 to 4 in. long, ovate-lanceolate, the apex drawn out into a long fine point, the base unequal at each side the midrib, ultimately nearly or quite glabrous. Flowers in terminal panicles 1 ft long, whitish, fragrant, short-stalked. Fruit a capsule about 1 in. long; seeds winged.

    Although known to botanists since 1743, this tree was not introduced to Europe until 1862. It was at first called “Ailanthus flavescens”, but is easily distinguished from true Ailanthus by the entire margins of the leaflets and the absence of glandular teeth there. It is a native of N. and W. China, and in the latter region many seeds were collected by Wilson on his last journey. As is the case with nearly all trees of timber-producing size, this is best raised from seed, but failing them, root-cuttings may be employed. It is said to thrive well in calcareous soils. The young shoots and leaves have an oniony taste and are boiled and eaten as a vegetable by the Chinese. By far the largest specimen recorded grows at Heligan, Cornwall, which measures 90 × 814 ft (1959). Others are: Nettlecombe, Somerset, 65 × 712 ft (1959); Kew, pl. 1907, 52 × 614 ft(1965). The tree in the Berberis Dell at Kew first flowered in 1947.

    From the Supplement (Vol. V)

    specimens: Kew, 56 × 714 ft (1976); Wakehurst Place, Sussex, 66 × 814 ft at 3 ft (1973); Aldenham Park, Essex, 60 × 514 ft (1976); University Botanic Garden, Cambridge, 60 × 612 ft (1984); Hergest Croft, Heref., 88 × 7 ft (1985); Mount Edgecumbe, Cornwall, 60 × 6 ft (1971); Edinburgh Botanic Garden, 46 × 312 ft (1985); National Botanic Garden, Glasnevin, Eire, from Wilson 185, 34 × 614 ft (1974); Birr Castle, Co. Offaly, Eire, 69 × 612 ft (1985).

    cv. ‘Flamingo’. – Young foliage pink. Cultivated in the R.H.S. Garden, Wisley. See the note by Hugh Redgrove in The Garden (Journ. R.H.S.), Vol. 110, pp. 344–5 (1985).