Chickrassy, Chittagong Wood, Indian Redwood.
Chukrasia tabularis

Family: Meliaceae

What it is like

Chickrassy (Chukrasia tabularis) is a medium to large deciduous or evergreen tree of 30 m high, with trunk diameter of up to 120 cm that may be branchless for up to 25 m. It has convex buttresses up to 150 cm tall. The bark is coarsely cracked and dark brown in colour. The leaves are narrowly oval and taper to the tip. The flowers are pale red and are located in branched clusters. The fruits are yellowish grey and wrinkles as it mature. The tree is used widely as ornamental, plantation tree, or as pioneer species. It is also used for medicinal purposes. In particular, bark extract is used in the treatment of diarrhoea and as febrifuge. Leaf extract, on the other hand, shows antimalarial, antibacterial, and antifungal activities attributed to the leaf?s essential oil. Further, the trunk yields gum while flowers contain a red and yellow dye. The wood is highly valued and used for making cabinets, doors, windows, light flooring, carving, planks, posts, etc.

Chukrasia tabularis is a deciduous Tree growing to 30 m (98ft) by 30 m (98ft) at a medium rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 10. Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils and can grow in very acid and very alkaline soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers moist soil. The plant can tolerates strong winds but not maritime exposure.

Height (m): 30

Where it is found

A dominant tree, usually found scattered in the top canopy of lowland evergreen or deciduous forest. It occasionally occurs as a colonizer of bare land, including road cuttings.

E. Asia - China, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam.

Conservation Status: Chukrasia tabularis: Status: Lower Risk/least concern

Countries/locations it is found in

Native to Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. Introduced to many western countries such as Cameroon, Costa Rica, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, South Africa, and United States.

How it is used

Food

Rating: 1

The young fruit are possibly edible.

Oil: Oil

Gum: can be chewed as a chewing gum or can often be used as a sweetener or thickening agent in foods.

Medicine

Rating: 2

An extract of the bark has powerful astringent properties and has been used to treat diarrhoea and as a febrifuge. A leaf extract has been reported to exhibit considerable antimalarial activity, as well as antibacterial and antifungal activities; the essential oil present in the leaf is responsible for these activities. The oil consists of oxygenated monoterpenes (42.8%, mainly carvacrol, thymol and borneol), phenyl propanoids (25.2%, mainly (E)-methyl isoeugenol and myristicin) and smaller amounts of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, monoterpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated sesquiterpenes. Widely used in Ayurveda as an important medicinal plant.

Antibacterial: Kills bacteria.

Antidiarrhoeal: Provides symptomatic relief for diarrhoea. Also see Astringent.

Antifungal: An agent that inhibits or destroys fungi. Used in the treatment of various fungal problems such as candida.

Astringent: Produces contraction in living tissue, reducing the flow of secretions and discharges of blood, mucus, diarrhoea etc.

Febrifuge: Reduces fevers.

Malaria: Treats malaria - an acute febrile illness caused by Plasmodium parasites spread to people through the bites of mosquitos.

Other

Rating: 4

Other uses rating: High (4/5). Agroforestry Uses: The tree is regarded as a pioneer species and is common in areas where shifting cultivation used to be practised. The straight bole and self-pruning ability make it a suitable tree for growing in combination with crops, such as banana, Citrus spp., and guava. It is grown to provide shade in coffee plantations in India. Its coppicing and pollarding ability make it particularly suitable for home gardens. Other Uses A yellow, transparent gum exudes from the trunk and is marketed in admixture with other gums. The flowers contain a red and a yellow dye. The young leaves and bark contain 22% and 15% of tannin respectively. An extract from the twigs has proved an efficacious antifeedant against Pieris rapae in southern China. Root extracts showed antifeedant activity against Spodoptera insects, with phragmalin limonoids (tabulalin and tabulalides A - E) as the active compounds. The seeds contain some 50% oil but how this is utilized is unrecorded. The heartwood is pale reddish-brown, yellowish-red to red, darkening to dark yellowish-brown, reddish-brown to medium dark brown on exposure, sharply differentiated from the yellowish-white, pale yellowish-brown, pinkish-brown or greyish-brown sapwood; dark streaks may be rather prominent. The density is 625-800 kg/cubic m at 15% mc. The grain is interlocked and sometimes wavy, producing a rose figure; texture moderately fine but uneven. Freshly cut wood has a fragrant odour, but dried wood has no characteristic odour or taste. The wood is moderately hard, it is considered non-durable to moderately durable under exposed conditions - the resistance to termite attack varies from good to poor. Planed surfaces have a high lustrous satiny sheen. The timber is highly prized for high-grade cabinetwork, decorative panelling, interior joinery such as doors, windows and light flooring, and for carving, toys and turnery. It is also used for railway sleepers, ship and boat building, furniture, musical instruments (including pianos), packing cases, sporting goods, lorry bodies, mallet heads, anvil blocks, brush wares, drawing equipment, rifle butts, veneer and pulp. In India, the timber is also used for light to medium-heavy construction work, such as for posts, beams, scantlings and planks. The wood peels well and gives exceedingly fine veneer. It is suitable for commercial and moisture proof plywood. The wood can also be used as a fuel.

Containers: Plants, such as gourds, that can be used as containers. Does not include baskets or containers made from wood.

Dye: Plants that provide dyes.

Essential: Essential oils that are used in perfumery, medicines, paint solvents, insect repellents etc.

Fuel: Usually wood, plant materials that have been mentioned as being a good fuel.

Furniture: A few miscellaneous uses that do not fit easily into other headings.

Gum: Gums have a wide range of uses, especially as stabilizers, emulsifiers, thickening agents, adhesives etc.

Insecticide: Kills insects.

Oil: Vegetable oils have many uses, as lubricants, lighting, soap and paint making, waterproofing etc. This does not include the edible oils unless they are also mentioned as having other uses.

Pioneer: Plants, usually trees and shrubs, that can be used to reforest land.

Tannin: An astringent substance obtaied from plants, it is used medicinally, as a dye and mordant, stabilizer in pesticide etc.

Wood: A list of the trees and shrubs that are noted for having useful wood.

Coppice: A traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down.

Food Forest: Plants for Edible Forest Gardens and Food Forests.

How it is grown

Chickrassy is a plant of the lowland tropics, usually found in an altitude range of 300 - 800 metres. It succeeds in areas where the mean annual temperature is in the range 20 - 25°c with an absolute minimum of 5 - 10°c. It grows best in areas where the mean annual rainfall is 1,400 - 4,000mm - it can tolerate as little as 850mm rainfall, but growth is then rather slow, in fact it does not achieve its full potential below 2,000mm rainfall. Prefers a sunny position, tolerating light shade. Avoids heavy and wet soils. It is usually found on well-drained soil in the plains and on hills. Plants are often found on limestone in the wild. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 6.5, tolerating 5 - 7. Plants are generally wind-tolerant. The growth of seedlings is moderately fast over the first few years with plants reaching a height of 1.2 - 2.1 metres after two years; 2.8 - 3.4 metres after 3 years; 5.5 metres tall after 6 years. The tree coppices particularly well.

Propagating it: Seed requires no pre-treatment and is sown with overhead shade in light porous soil. Germination is fair: in Malaysia 35% of the seeds sown germinated in 1 - 2.5 weeks, in India 80-90% in 1 - 4 weeks. Where seed is plentiful, the best method is broadcast sowing in strips 0.6 m wide and 1.8 m apart. Best results have been obtained by raising seedlings in well-drained boxes and pots before transplanting. Seedlings are pricked out and transplanted to the nursery beds when about 1 month old and 6 - 8 cm high. Fresh seed retains its viability for a relatively short period, about 3 months. Air-layering.

Best place to grow:

Habit: Tree

Hardiness: 9-12

Growth: Medium

Soil: Light (sandy), medium

Shade: No shade

Moisture: Moist

Things to keep in mind

Its other names

Local names

Chickrassy (Chukrasia tabularis). Other common names of Chukrasia tabularis are Bastard cedar, White cedar, East-Indian mahogany, Indian redwood, Burma almond wood, and Chittagong wood. Other Names: Bastard cedar, White cedar, Chickrassy, Chittagong Wood, East-Indian mahogany, Indian Redwood, Burmese Almondwood. Hindi - Chikrasi. Manipuri - Taimareng. Telugu - Kondavepa. Tamil - Malei veppu. Kannada - Kalgarike. Malayalam - Suvannakil. Bengali - Chikrassi. Assamese - Boga-poma. Sinhala - Hulan hik / Hirikita.

Synonyms

Chickrassia nimmonii Graham ex Wight Chickrassia nimmonii J.Graham ex Wight Chickrassia tabularis Wi