Melia azedarach
Melia azedarach, commonly known by many names, including chinaberry tree Pride of India, bead-tree, Cape lilac, syringe, berry tree, Persian lilac, and Indian lilac, is a species of deciduous tree in the mahogany family, Meliaceae, which is native to Indomalaya and Australasia.
Originally from Asia it is now naturalized throughout tropical and subtropical regions.
In the spring the tree is covered with lilac-like, sweet-scented flowers. The flowers are small and fragrant, with five pale purple or lilac petals, growing in clusters at the end of the many branchlets making a fine and interesting show when in full flower.
The leaves are up to 50 centimetres (20 in) long, alternate, long-petioled, two or three times compound (odd-pinnate); the leaflets are dark green above and lighter green below, with serrate margins.
The 8mm diameter fruit is a drupe, marble-sized, light yellow at maturity, hanging on the tree all winter, and gradually becoming wrinkled and almost white.
Fruits are poisonous to humans if eaten in quantity. However, like those of the yew tree, these toxins are not harmful to birds, who gorge themselves on the fruit, eventually reaching a "drunken" state. The birds that are able to eat the fruit spread the seeds in their droppings.
The adult tree has a rounded, deciduous crown and is often used as street trees and as a smaller growing tree in public spaces.
Melia is an ancient Greek mythological name referring to the daughter of the Greek god Okeanos. The name is also applied to the ash tree in Greek, and is a derivative of meli "honey". The species azedarach is from the French 'azédarac' which in turn is from the Persian ‘dirakht' meaning 'free or noble tree'.
Originally from Asia it is now naturalized throughout tropical and subtropical regions.
In the spring the tree is covered with lilac-like, sweet-scented flowers. The flowers are small and fragrant, with five pale purple or lilac petals, growing in clusters at the end of the many branchlets making a fine and interesting show when in full flower.
The leaves are up to 50 centimetres (20 in) long, alternate, long-petioled, two or three times compound (odd-pinnate); the leaflets are dark green above and lighter green below, with serrate margins.
The 8mm diameter fruit is a drupe, marble-sized, light yellow at maturity, hanging on the tree all winter, and gradually becoming wrinkled and almost white.
Fruits are poisonous to humans if eaten in quantity. However, like those of the yew tree, these toxins are not harmful to birds, who gorge themselves on the fruit, eventually reaching a "drunken" state. The birds that are able to eat the fruit spread the seeds in their droppings.
The adult tree has a rounded, deciduous crown and is often used as street trees and as a smaller growing tree in public spaces.
Melia is an ancient Greek mythological name referring to the daughter of the Greek god Okeanos. The name is also applied to the ash tree in Greek, and is a derivative of meli "honey". The species azedarach is from the French 'azédarac' which in turn is from the Persian ‘dirakht' meaning 'free or noble tree'.