| |
Melia azedarach
|
| |
|
| |
Family:
MELIACEAE
|
| |
Citation: Melia azedarach L., Sp. Pl. 384. 1753; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 544. 1875; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 176(126). 1915; Antony, Syst. Stud. Fl. Kottayam Dist. 101. 1989; Sivar. & Mathew, Fl. Nilambur 134. 1997; S.S. Jain & S.S.R. Bennet in Hajra et al., Fl. India 4: 494. 1997; Anil Kumar et al., Fl. Pathanamthitta 119. 2005; N.C. Nair & N.P. Balakr. in P. Daniel, Fl. Kerala 1: 655. 2005; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 168. 2009; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 213. 2009.
|
| |
Malayalam Name(s):
Malaveppu, Kattuveppu, Valiyaveppu
|
| |
Tamil name(s):
|
| |
English name(s):
Bead tree, Indian Lilac, Persian lilac, Pride of India, White Cedar
|
| |
Description:
Trees, to 20 m high; bark grey. Leaves bipinnate, alternate, estipulate; rachis 24-34 cm long, slender, scurfy tomentose, swollen at the base; pinnae 3-5, 4.5-7 cm, opposite, slender, scurfy tomentose; leaflets 3-11, opposite or subopposite; petiolule 1-4 mm long, slender, scurfy tomentose; lamina 3-6.7 x 1-3 cm, ovate-obovate, ovate, obovate or oblong, base oblique, truncate or attenuate, apex acuminate, margin irregularly serrate, chartaceous, scurfy puberulent; lateral nerves 6-12 pairs, parallel, slender, faint, intercostae reticulate, faint. Flowers bisexual, lilac, ca. 1 cm across, in axillary panicles to 15 cm long; pedicels to 2 mm; calyx lobes 5, 1.5 mm, ovate, pubescent without; petals 5, 8 x 3 mm, lanceolate, glabrescent; disc annular; staminal tube 7 mm, dark purple, striate, puberulous, 10-toothed; stamens 10; ovary superior, 1 mm, 5-celled; ovules 2 in each cell; style attenuate, to 3 mm; stigma capitate. Fruit a drupe, 2 x 1 cm, globose, glabrous; seed one.
|
| |
Habit:
Tree
|
| |
Flowering & Fruiting:
May-December
|
| |
District(s):
All Districts
|
| |
Medicinal:
Yes
|
| |
Habitat:
Grown as avenue tree
|
| |
Distribution:
Tropical Asia, Australia and Africa
|
| |
Aquatic:
No
|
| |
Epiphyte(s):
No
|
| |
Saprophyte:
No
|
| |
Stem parasite:
No
|
| |
Root parasite:
No
|
| |
Flower colour(s):
Violet, White
|
| |
Weed:
No
|
| |
Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
|
| |
Exotic:
Yes
|
| |
Garden:
Yes
|
| |
Edible:
No
|
| |
Vegetable:
No
|
| |
Endemic to:
|
| |
IUCN status:
|
| |
Altitude:
|
| |
Localities:
Peechi, Tiruvalla, Karumudi, Edathala, Kanjirakadavu
|