Melia azedarach L.
Family
Meliaceae
Synonyms
Melia sempervirens (L.) Sw., Melia dubia Cavanilles, Melia composita Willd.
Vernacular Names
| Malaysia |
Mindi keciI. |
| English | Chinaberry, Persian lilac, pride of India. |
| Indonesia |
Gringging, mindi (Java), marambung (Sumatra). |
| Philippines |
Paraiso, balagango (Tagalog), bagalunga (Bisaya). |
| Singapore | Mindi kechil. |
| Cambodia | Dâk’ hiën, sdau khmaôch. |
| Laos |
H’ienx, kadau s’a:ngz. |
| Thailand |
Lian, lian-baiyai (central), khian (northern). |
| Vietnam | C[aa]y xoan, xoan d[aa]u, s[aaf]u d[oo]ng. |
Geographical Distributions
Melia azedarach is a widely distributed tree, probably of South Asian origin, occurring widely in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions. It is found wild in the Himalayan foothills of India and Pakistan at altitudes of 700-1000 m, widely scattered in China, through Malaysia to the Solomon Islands and northern and eastern Australia. It is naturalised in a wide belt in the cooler parts of eastern and southern Africa, in the Americas from Argentina to the southern United States and Hawaii, and throughout the Middle East and the Mediterranean as far north as Croatia and southern France. The most frost-tolerant cultivars can be planted outdoors in sheltered areas in the British Isles.
Description
Melia azedarach is a deciduous tree that can reach up to 45 m tall. Its bole flutes below when old, and measures up to 60(-120) cm in diametre. The bark is grey-brown, smooth, lenticellate, and becomes lightly fissured or scally with age. The inner bark consists of yellowish, whitish sapwood and rusty brown hardwood. The crown is widely spread with sparsely branched limbs. The twigs are upturned at the end of drooping branchlets, smooth, brown, lenticellate and with raised cicatrices. The leafy twigs are with fulvous stellate hairs.
The leaves are bipinnate, occasionally wholly or partly tripinnate, more or less opposite, measure (15-)2380 cm long and nearly hairless. The petiole is 8-30 cm long, cylindrical, lenticellate and swollen at the base. The pinnae is in 3-7 pairs and measures up to 25 cm long. The petiolule is 3-7 mm long. The leaflets are in 3-7 pairs, opposite or nearly so, ovate or oblong-Iance-shaped to elliptical and measuring 2-10 cm x 0.6-3.8 cm. The base is slightly unequilateral, with acute to rounded, acuminate apex while the margin is entire to variously serrate.
The inflorescence is a thyrse, axillary or in axil of rudimentary leaves on short shoots. It is 10-22 cm long with the primary branches 5-7.5 cm long while the secondary branches are up to 2 cm long and bear fascicles of flowers. The bracts are 3-10 mm long, slender and caducous. The bracteoles are similar but smaller. The pedicel is 2-3 mm long. The flowers are purplish, fragrant, bisexual or male and 5-merous. The sepal is tubular, measures about 2 mm in diametre, with lobes about 2 mm long, with exterior stellate and simple hairs. The petals are free, narrowly oblong, measuring 6-10 mm x 2 mm, white to lilac or bluish and minutely pubescent outside. The staminal tube is about 7 mm long, from lilac turns to deep purple, with smooth exterior and with dense simple hairs throughout the interior. The 10 anthers are sessile. The pistil is hairless. The 5-lobed stigma is club-shaped.
The fruit is a drupe, ellipsoid-spherical, measuring 2-4 cm x 1-2 cm, yellow-brown when ripens, smooth and up to 5-seeded. The seed is oblongoid, measuring 3.5 mm x 1.6 mm, smooth and brown.
Ecology / Cultivation
The natural habitat of Melia azedarach is seasonal forests, including bamboo thickets, Tamarindus woodland and Eucalyptus savanna. Its natural occurrence from the Himalayan foothills of Baluchistan (Pakistan) and Kashmir (India) to the lowland of Papua New Guinea indicates that it is highly adaptable and tolerates a wide range of conditions. The mean maximum temperature of the hottest month may reach 39°C, while the mean minimum temperature of the coldest month is -5°C, although many forms only tolerate a narrower range. In eastern coastal Australia, M. azedarach occurs where the mean maximum temperature of the hottest month is 26-32°C and the mean minimum temperature of the coldest month 3-100°C. Young trees are sensitive to frost, but old ones tolerate up to -15°C. It is generally found from 0-1200 m altitude, and in the Himalayas up to 1800(-2200) m. Annual rainfall in its natural habitat ranges from 600-2000 mm.
In Africa, it is planted as a drought-tolerant shade tree and ornament. M. azedarach is widely distributed in the drier parts of the southern and south-western United States, while in humid Florida, it is self sowing and considered a weed. Where annual rainfall is less than 600 mm, as in parts of the Middle East, it performs well on wet soils along rivers and under irrigation. M. azedarach tolerates seasonal waterlogging and is even reported from permanently waterlogged sites. Strong winds may break off limbs. Although optimal growth is obtained on well drained, deep, sandy loams, M. azedarach tolerates shallow soils, saline and strongly alkaline soils, but not very acid soils. Reports on its tolerance of heavy clays are contradictory. It is found on poor, marginal, sloping, and stony land, even in crevices in sheer rock.
Line Drawing / Photograph
References
- Plant Resources of South-East Asia No.11: Auxiliary plants.
