Toona calantas

Toona calantas
Toona calantas leaf and bark
Conservation status
Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
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 Merr. & Rolfe

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]

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

1. Barstow, M. (2018). "Toona calantas". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T32122A68105077. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T32122A68105077.en. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
2. "Kalantas". BINHI. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
3. ASEAN Tropical Plant Database. "Toona calantas Merr. & Rolfe". National Institute of Environmental Research, Republic of Korea. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
4. "Kalantas". Cainta Plant Nursery. 2013-09-25. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
5. Dayan, Maria dP.; Reaviles, Rosalinda S.; Bandian, Dolora B. (August 2007). "DENR Recommends Volume 15b INDIGENOUS FOREST TREE SPECIES IN LAGUNA PROVINCE" (PDF). rainforestation.ph.
6. "Mining firm achieves high reforestation survival rate". INQUIRER.net. Philippine Daily Inquirer. 2019-06-26. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
7. "PGMA declares La Mesa Dam as a protected watershed". pcoo.gov.ph. Presidential Communications Operations Office. 2007-07-18. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
8. Codamon, Dan B. (2007-07-23). "PIA daily news in English, Tagalog, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Waray, Pangalatok from around the Philippines". archives.pia.gov.ph. Philippine Information Agency. Retrieved 2021-07-19.