Chukrasia tabularis A.Juss.

Tree to 40 m; bole to 25 m, fluted below, to 120 cm diam. Buttresses convex, to 150 cm tall. Bark dark brown, fissured vertically and scaling or cracking into rectangular blocks; inner bark red brown or pinkish; sapwood straw, heartwood yellow to reddish-brown. Twigs grey, bark cracking horizontally. Leafy twigs 4–6 mm diam., lenticel-late. Leaves 30–50 cm, with 6-12 leaflets on each side, ± short-pubescent; petiole 4–9 cm, ± terete, swollen at base. Leaflets ovate to oblong, ± asymmetric or even falcate, the subapical the largest, 10–17.5 by 3.5–6.5 cm, the most proximal as small as 4 by 2.2 cm, bases obtuse to rounded distally, acute to cuneate proximally, apices acute to acuminate, subglabrous to finely scattered short pubescent adaxially, subglabrous ex-cept for short hairs on veins and domatia in axils of costae to densely velutinous abaxi-ally, chartaceous to subcoriaceous, costae c. 9–11 on each side of largest leaflets, arcu-ate, ± bifurcating near margin; petiolules 2–6 mm. Thyrses 10–30 cm long, primary branches to 16 cm, squarrose to ascending, secondary to 4 cm, bearing fascicles of sweetly-scented (Muscari, Mabberley) flowers; axes short-pubescent; bracts 2–7(–10) mm, narrowly triangular, often caducous, bracteoles similar but smaller; pedicels c. 3–4 mm, articulated with pseudopedicels c. 2 mm long, continuous with calyx. Calyx c. 2.5-3.5 mm diam., shallowly cupular, ± pubescent without lobes obtuse, c. 1/3 length of calyx. Petals c. 12–16 mm long, narrowly oblong to subspathulate, creamy green or yellowish, often tinged pink, subglabrous or puberulent (especially on sectors exposed before anthesis). Staminal tube glabrous, colour as petals, anthers c. 1 mm long, ob-long. Ovary densely adpressed pubescent. Infructescence pendulous with up to 6 fruits. Capsule (2.5–)3.5–5 cm long, 2.5–4 cm diam., dark brown, lenticellate. Seeds c. 1.2 cm long.

It is a tropical plant. In the south of China it grows in mixed evergreen broad-leaved and deciduous forests between 300-1,600 m above sea level. It is usually on limestone mountains. In XTBG Yunnan.

UsesThe timber is an export of Burma and India, where boles to 6 m girth have been recorded, and is known in world commerce as chickrassy, yinma or Chittagong wood. On seasoning, it tones down to a golden mahogany shade with a beautiful satiny sheen and is often figured handsomely. In China it is favoured for carving as well as construction work. The tree may be coppiced and it has been tried in tropical Australian plantations, but it is susceptible to the depredations of Hypsipela moths. The tree yields a gum which is marketed mixed with others in India, while the flowers are the source of a dye. An extract from the twigs has proved an efficacious anti-feedant against Pieris rapae in southern China [ W. & H. Olkowski IPM Pract. 10 9 1988 3 ]. The seeds contain some 50% oil but how this is utilized is unrecorded. The bark is astringent. In Europe, the plant has been cultivated as a greenhouse ornamental.

Plants can be grown by seeds. They can also be grown by cuttings and air-layering.