Timber iQ Dec 2017 - Jan 2018 // Issue:35 | Page 61

CONTRIBUTORS - WOOD WORKS
Looking at Indian mahogany
Indian mahogany (Toona ciliata), also called Toon Tree, belongs to the
mahogany family and produces a large tree with a spreading crown
and dense foliage.
By Stephanie Dyer | All images courtesy Colin Dyer
Indian mahogany from Indonesia
I
Indian mahogany at Maritzburg College, Pietermaritzburg.
Indian mahogany family by Morris Lake.
t was once a popular ornamental in South African gardens
and, according to Streets (1962), the tree was planted fairly
extensively from about 1903, ‘used along streams and in
kloofs where water conservation is important’.
By the 1960s only two plantations remained, but these
were not very successful as the trees were ‘heavily branched
and somewhat crooked’. The species has more recently been
declared a Category 3 invader in South Africa, which means
that it may no longer be planted, propagated or traded,
although existing plants may remain, except within the flood
line of watercourses and wetlands.
Indian mahogany is also invasive in Zimbabwe, Tanzania
and Kenya. The species produces a useful, versatile timber,
hence its inclusion in the Wood Works series. In Australia the
timber is highly prized and in Asia fragments of the wood are
used as a substrate upon which shiitake mushrooms
are grown.
The bark of Indian mahogany trees is grey or brown and
deeply fissured. The drooping, compound leaves are about
30cm long and have five to 14 pairs of leaflets. Large clusters
of small, fragrant, creamy-white flowers are produced on the
tips of branches in spring and summer.
The natural habitat of Toona ciliata is India, southeastern
Asia and Australia (Queensland and New South Wales). The
genus name, Toona, is derived from the Hindi name, tune,
which is in turn derived from tunna, the Sanskrit name for the
plant. The specific epithet, ciliata, refers to the cilia (small
hairs) on the flower buds.
The timber produced by this species is lightweight with
light brown sapwood and reddish-brown, almost brick red,
strongly scented heartwood. It is very versatile and is used
for structural timber, ship building, joinery, furniture and
cabinet work, interior trimming, musical instruments,
carving, turnery, craft items, cigar boxes and fuel. Supplies of
this timber from its native habitat are diminishing, but the
species is cultivated extensively in other parts of the world.
// DECEMBER 2017 / JANUARY 2018 59