Melia
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Authority
Pennington, Terence D. 1981. Meliaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 28: 1-359, 418-449, 459-470. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Meliaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type species. Melia azedarach Linnaeus.
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Synonyms
Melia azedarach L.
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Description
Genus Description - Monopodial trees or treelets. Indumentum a mixture of simple and tufted-stellate hairs. Leaves 2-3-pinnate. Inflorescence a many-flowered axillary panicle, ultimate branchlets often cymose. Flowers and 6 on same individual (polygamous). Calyx 5(-6)-lobed to near base, sepals sometimes imbricate at base. Petals 5(-6), free, imbricate. Staminal tube 0.4-1 cm long, narrowly cylindrical, slightly expanded at mouth, 10-12-ribbed, terminated by slender, filiform, truncate or 2-4-lobed appendages, as many as or to twice the anthers. Anthers 10(-12), hairy or glabrous, inserted on margin of staminal tube or just inside, alternate with or opposite to appendages. Nectary annular or patelliform, free, surrounding base of ovary. Ovary 4-8-locular; loculi with 2 superposed ovules. Style-head capitate to coroniform, with 4-8 short erect or incurved stigmatic lobes. Fruit a 3-8-locular drupe; endocarp thick, bony, hollowed at base and apex; loculi l(-2)-seeded. Seed oblong, laterally compressed, exarillodiate; testa leathery, sometimes slightly swollen and fleshy around hilum. Embryo embedded in thin endosperm; cotyledons flat, collateral, radicle superior, short, projecting from cotyledons.
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Discussion
Melia azedarach is introduced in the New World and commonly cultivated and naturalized throughout tropical America, from Mexico to Argentina. In some regions this relatively fast growing species has been planted commercially for use in the manufacture of fibre board.
It is easily distinguished from all other Meliaceae encountered in the Neotropics by its 2-3-pinnate leaves, with serrate, crenate, or dentate leaflets. -
Distribution
About five poorly defined species in the Old World tropics.