Toona calantas

Species of tree From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Toona calantas

Toona calantas is a species of tree in the mahogany family. It is found in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. It is threatened by habitat loss.[1] It is commonly known as kalantas (also spelled calantas), lanipga (in Visayan and Bikol),[2] ample (in Batanes),[2] bantinan (in Cagayan and Mountain Province),[2] danupra (in Zambales and Ilocos Norte),[2] Philippine cedar, or Philippine mahogany (although the latter is also applied to members of the unrelated genus Shorea).[3]

Quick Facts Conservation status, Scientific classification ...
Toona calantas
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Toona calantas leaf and bark
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Meliaceae
Genus: Toona
Species:
T. calantas
Binomial name
Toona calantas
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Description and phenology

The kalantas tree can grow up to 25 metres (82 ft) and can measure up to 25 centimetres (9.8 in) in diameter.[4] The color of the bark ranges from yellowish to dark brown and the inner bark is light brown[2] while trunk is straight and terete.[4] The leaves can be described as compound, alternate oblong or broadly lanceolate[clarification needed].[4] The fruit of the kalantas tree is a capsule that can be ellipsoid or oblongoid that measures 3–4 centimetres (1.2–1.6 in) long.[2]

Flowering occurs from June to August while fruiting occurs from September to November.[5] In Mount Makiling, Laguna, Philippines, seed gathering takes place from February to March.[5]

Distribution, importance and conservation status

Generally scattered all over the Philippines particularly in the Balabac group of islands, the kalantas tree can be found in the hills of a forest situated in low to medium altitudes.[4] The wood of the tree is used for making boxes, furniture or plywood.[4][5] Kalantas has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Data Deficient[2] but it was reported that kalantas is exhausted due to logging and kaingin (a Tagalog term for slash-and-burn).[4] Reforestation efforts have been done in the Philippines and the kalantas tree is included in these efforts.[6] One of the efforts were done by the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources during the term of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo where the president herself planted a seedling of a kalantas tree,[7] which is the favored tree promoted by the president.[8]

References

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