Toona fargesii A. Chev.

Toona fargesii has been overlooked in most treatments of Chinese Toona species. The recognition of it here is largely based on the work of J. M. Edmonds. Chevalier based this species on "Dode Ms. in Herb. Mus. Paris" in which it was placed in Cedrela. Chevalier correctly placed it in Toona and, describing it as T. fargesii Bahadur (Monogr. Genus Toona (Meliac.) 107. 1988), adopted this species; but, while recognizing that it was a distinct species, he muddled it with T. sureni. He cited only three collections. Two were from the N Hemisphere and included the type collection of T. fargesii cited by Chevalier from China as well as a second specimen from Assam thought to be conspecific. The third cited specimen, from New Guinea in the S Hemisphere, is conspecific with T. sureni. Flowering herbarium material of this species, which is needed for definitive determination, is rare. Although this species could be endemic to China, where it is now known to occur in at least six provinces, there are a number of fruiting specimens collected from Bhutan, NE India, and Myanmar that seem to be conspecific, extending the range of this species westward from S China. They include types of Cedrela febrifuga var. assamensis, C. febrifuga var. verrucosa, and T. microcarpa var. sahnii.

"Toona rubriflora" (C. J. Tseng, Acta Sci. Nat. Univ. Amoiensis 9: 303. 1962) belongs here but was not validly published because two gatherings were indicated as types (Vienna Code, Art. 37.2).

Trees to 30 m tall; trunk to 90 cm d.b.h. Bark grayish brown, longitudinally scaly. Leaves 26-66 cm or more; petiole 6-11 cm, pilose; rachis pilose; leaflets usually 5-11 pairs; petiolules 3-9 mm, pilose; leaflet blades ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 10-22 × 2.9-9 cm, glabrous to glabrescent but midveins and main veins moderately to densely pilose, base asymmetric, margin entire or sinuate, apex acute to acuminate. Inflorescences to 60 cm or sometimes more, pendent; rachis dark grayish brown, often densely villous-pilose with spreading simple trichomes. Flower buds distinctly conical, drying black. Flowers ca. 4.4 mm. Pedicel dark grayish brown, 0.5-0.8 mm. Calyx cup-shaped, 0.8-1.1 mm, outside pilose; sepals spatulate, 0.3-0.9 × ca. 1 mm, margins ciliate. Petals pink, red, or purple, obpyriform, ca. 5 × 2.5 mm, outside glabrous, margin not ciliate. Androgynophore ca. 4.8 mm; filaments ca. 2 mm (male flowers) or ca. 2.1 mm (female flowers), glabrous; anthers of male flowers 0.7-0.9 × ca. 0.5 mm, exserted beyond petals and somewhat versatile, apex apiculate; antherodes of female flowers somewhat sagittate, ca. 0.5 × 0.2-0.3 mm, apex apiculate. Disk dark grayish brown, 2.2-2.3 mm in diam., densely villous with long brown uniseriate trichomes (often more than 1 mm) clumping and adhering to style in long strands. Ovary dark grayish brown, ca. 3.2 mm in diam., densely villous as disk, with to 5 ovules per locule; style 1.5-2 × ca. 0.5 mm (male) but shorter in female flowers, glabrous; stylehead clavate to discoid, 0.7-0.8 mm in diam. (male). Capsule elliptic, (2.2-)3-4 cm; columella (1.8-)2.2-4 × 1-1.2 cm, concave; valves dark yellow, brown, or reddish brown, 1.4-2.6 × 0.7-0.9 cm, verrucose with large prominent rusty lenticels, 0.6-0.9(-2.3) mm in diam., distributed evenly or becoming denser and smaller toward valve ends. Seeds 1.5-2.6 cm × 3-5.5 mm, winged at both ends; seed body 0.8-1.4 cm × 2-3 mm. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Sep-Dec.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, W Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan [?Bhutan, ?NE India, ?Myanmar].

● Dense forests, mixed woods, valleys, streamsides, often in moist habitats; 300-1900 m.

?Cedrela febrifuga Blume var. assamensis C. Candolle; ?C. febrifuga var. verrucosa C. Candolle, p.p. (as to all syntypes except those of Forbes from Sumatra); C. rehderiana H. L. Li; ?Toona microcarpa (C. Candolle) Harms var. sahnii Bahadur.

Toona fargesii, or the Chinese common name hong hua xiang chun is a medium-sized deciduous tree native to southern China that grows to a height of 25 to 30 m (82 to 98 ft) tall.