Toona sinensis ("Chanchin")

Japanese name: チャンチン （香椿）
Scientific name: Toona sinensis

[Overview]
A deciduous tree 10–20 m tall.
The whole plant has a distinctive scent like garlic or sesame.
The trunk is erect and the branches grow upward, giving a slender tree shape.
The bark is gray to dark brown and split by vertical fissures.
The leaves are alternate and clustered at the branch tips, odd-pinnately compound and 25–80 cm long, with 5–13 pairs of leaflets; sometimes the terminal leaflet is absent, making them even-pinnately compound.
The leaflets are ovate to lanceolate-oblong, about 10–20 cm long and 3–6 cm wide, with a long, pointed tip and very low wavy serrations on the margin.
The leaf rachis is often reddish.
The new spring shoots are white to pink, and the leaves turn yellow in autumn.
Panicles 15–25 cm long emerge from the branch tips and bear many small white to pale pink 5-petaled flowers.
The fruit is an oblong capsule 1.5–3 cm long that splits into 5 when ripe.
The seeds have a wing at one end.

[Uses]
The wood is reddish brown, hard and resistant to moisture, and is used for building material, civil engineering timber such as bridge construction, furniture, musical instruments, tubs and interior finishing.
The young leaves are used as a vegetable in China and Malaysia.
In India the leaves are used as fodder for livestock.
The bark, roots and young leaves are used medicinally.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by division or root cuttings.
It can overwinter outdoors in regions without frost.
In a sunny, well-drained place it grows well regardless of soil type.
Once established, rainfall is sufficient.
Apply organic fertilizer in winter.
There are no particular pests or diseases.

[Notes]
The Japanese name derives from the Chinese name "香椿".

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