Species
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Toona sinensis (A.Juss.) M.Roem.

Chinese Cedar, Chinese Mahogany, Chinesischer Surenbaum (DE), Red toon

Climate known 11 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Toona sinensis, commonly called Chinese mahogany, Chinese cedar, Chinese toon, beef and onion plant, or red toon is a species of Toona native to eastern and southeastern Asia, ranging from northern Korean peninsula through most of eastern, central, and southwestern China, in Nepal, northeastern India, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, and even present in Malaysia and western Indonesia.

Text from Wikipedia, “Toona sinensis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Toona

Toona, commonly known as red cedar, toon or toona, tooni is a genus in the mahogany family, Meliaceae, native from Afghanistan south to India, and east to North Korea, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia. In older texts, the genus was often incorporated within a wider circumscription of the related genus Cedrela, but that genus is now restricted to species from the Americas.

Text from Wikipedia, “Toona”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Meliaceae
Described by
(A.Juss.) M.Roem.
Native to
China South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast +15
Wild records
647 in range· 155 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Jul, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1724mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 284 mm (CHELSA)
Light
17–34DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1724 mm a year, wettest June at 284 mm, driest December at 39 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 34 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 0.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Ailanthus flavescens Carrière; Ailanthus mairei Gagnep.; Cedrela chinensis Franch.; Cedrela glabra C.DC.; Cedrela longiflora var. kumaona C.DC. and 42 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1295 mm of 1724 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.3 °C against a yearly mean of 19.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1724 mm a year, wettest June at 284 mm, driest December at 39 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1724 mm a year at the habitat, 1295 mm of it April to September. Wettest month June at 284 mm, driest December at 39 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 723 mm to 3552 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 34 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 34 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 0.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 0.8 °C, the absolute minimum -4.0 °C, about 2 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.3 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 6.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells -6.8 °C to 13.9 °C), warmest day 29.5 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 14 °C in Jan to 30 °C in Jul; mean night from 6 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1724 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 483 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -4.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.3 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost36.3° 99th-percentile day (undated)-4.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 17–34RH 60–65 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 483 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C14 / 3–2115 / 6–2218 / 11–2423 / 17–2726 / 21–2828 / 24–3030 / 25–3229 / 24–3227 / 22–2923 / 17–2820 / 11–2516 / 5–22
Night °C6 / -7–148 / -5–1511 / 0–1715 / 7–2019 / 12–2322 / 16–2523 / 18–2623 / 17–2520 / 14–2416 / 7–2212 / 0–197 / -4–16
Rain mm51 / 6–14783 / 11–208120 / 22–213157 / 33–246236 / 62–349284 / 95–466239 / 155–482217 / 135–516162 / 74–48382 / 35–33254 / 16–25239 / 7–162
DLI18 / 14–2521 / 15–2825 / 18–3330 / 23–3632 / 27–3932 / 28–3834 / 31–3832 / 29–3529 / 24–3124 / 19–2919 / 16–2517 / 14–23
RH %62 / 54–6863 / 52–6863 / 51–6863 / 52–6864 / 53–6865 / 58–6965 / 61–6965 / 61–6964 / 59–6962 / 56–6861 / 55–6760 / 54–67

Each figure is the median across the 483 grid cells holding the 624 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1262:5642 (26.875, 102.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -4.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 483 distinct grid cells holding the 624 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1262:5642 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 27.00_101.875, lapse-corrected -571 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1418 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast, Tibet, Assam, East Himalaya, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Malaya, Sumatera· introduced: Germany, Tanzania, Uganda, Afghanistan, Korea, Maryland
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker24.467, 120.886 · in the densest population, 270 records (42% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 647 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 155 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 19 km away. 284 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 23 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 647 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Toona sinensisToona sinensisToona sinensisToona sinensisToona sinensisToona sinensisToona sinensisToona sinensis

Photographs: Daniel Atha, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF; Dustin Edmundson, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (2); Tommy Forrest, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF (4); 葉子, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF.

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Toona sinensis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antioxidant activities of Toona Sinensis leaves extracts using different antioxidant models
You‐Cheng Hseu, Wen-Huei Chang, Chee‐Shan Chen, Jiunn‐Wang Liao (2007) · Food and Chemical Toxicology
Toona sinensis Roem tender leaf extract inhibits SARS coronavirus replication
Chung‐Jen Chen, Martin Michaelis, Hseng-Kuang Hsu, Chin-Chuan Tsai (2008) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Phenolic antioxidants from Chinese toon (fresh young leaves and shoots of Toona sinensis)
Kai‐Jin Wang, Chong‐Ren Yang, Ying‐Jun Zhang (2006) · Food Chemistry
Protective effect of methyl gallate from Toona sinensis (Meliaceae) against hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress and DNA damage in MDCK cells
Tian‐Jye Hsieh, Tsan‐Zon Liu, Yi‐Chen Chia, Chi‐Liang Chern (2004) · Food and Chemical Toxicology
Rutin potentiates insulin receptor kinase to enhance insulin-dependent glucose transporter 4 translocation
Chia‐Yu Hsu, Hung-Yuan Shih, Yi‐Chen Chia, Chia‐Hung Lee (2014) · Molecular Nutrition & Food Research
Anti-Neoplastic Effects of Gallic Acid, a Major Component of Toona sinensis Leaf Extract, on Oral Squamous Carcinoma Cells
Yi‐Chen Chia, Ranjan Rajbanshi, Colonya C. Calhoun, Robert Chiu (2010) · Molecules
Effects of hot-water extract of Toona sinensis on immune response and resistance to Aeromonas hydrophila in Oreochromis mossambicus
Chih‐Chung Wu, Chun‐Hung Liu, Yueh-Ping Chang, Shu‐Ling Hsieh (2010) · Fish & Shellfish Immunology
Wild food plants and wild edible fungi in two valleys of the Qinling Mountains (Shaanxi, central China)
Yongxiang Kang, Łukasz Łuczaj, Jin Kang, Shijiao Zhang (2013) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Adsorption of phenol on porous carbon from Toona sinensis leaves and its mechanism
Xiaodong Kong, Hongpeng Gao, Xiaolan Song, Yuehua Deng (2019) · Chemical Physics Letters

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 91 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.