Melia azedarach L.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Meliaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Shrub or small tree to 10 m tall; bark reddish brown, fissured, bitter; stems cylindrical, sparsely stellate-pubescent, becoming glabrous. Leaves 2-3 times pinnate, less often once pinnate, imparipinnate; pinnae opposite, with 2-6 pairs of opposite leaflets; leaflets petiolulate, 3-8 x 0.8-3 cm, ovate to lanceolate, membranous, the apex acute to long-acuminate, the base acute to rounded, the margins serrate or lobed. Rowers in axillary panicles, as long or longer than the subtending leaf; bracts minute. Calyx 1-1.5 mm long, sparsely pubescent; petals white to light violet, oblanceolate, 8-12 mm long, reflexed; staminal tube nearly cylindrical, dark violet, 7-8 mm long, stamens 10; ovary glabrous, the style columnar. Drupe fleshy, ellipsoid, 1-1.5 cm long, yellow.
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Distribution
A common roadside shrub, naturalized on St. John Carolina (A4137), Great Cruz Bay (A2371). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas and Tortola; cultivated and naturalized throughout the tropics and sub tropics of the New World.
Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America|