Melia azedarach L.

  • Authority

    Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

  • Family

    Meliaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Melia azedarach L.

  • Description

    Species Description - A tree, sometimes 20 m. high, with a trunk up to 2 m. in diameter, usually much smaller, the bark furrowed, the branches spreading. Leaves bipinnate, petioled, glabrous, or nearly so, 2-4 dm. long, deciduous; leaflets numerous, ovate to elliptic, thin, acuminate at the apex, rounded or narrowed at the base, 3-7 cm. long, sharply serrate and sometimes lobed; panicles peduncled 2-3 dm. long; pedicels slender, 4-ln mm. long; sepals acute, about 2 mm. long; petals purplish, oblong, obtuse, about 10 mm. long; drupes yellow, globose, smooth, 1.5-2 cm. in diameter.

  • Distribution

    Waste and scrub-lands, spontaneous after cultivation, Eleuthera, Cat Island and Inagua : southeastern United States; Bermuda: West Indies; Mexico and tropical America generally; native of southeastern Asia. Pride of India.

    Eleuthera Bahamas South America| Cat Island Bahamas South America| Inagua Bahamas South America| Bermuda South America| United States of America North America| México Mexico North America|