Trees or shrubs; indumentum of simple, glandular and tufted-stellate hairs
Leaves
2- or 3-pinnate; leaflets crenate or serrate
Flowers
bisexual and male on same individual (polygamous); in panicles
Petals
imbricate
Staminal tube
narrowly cylindrical; anthers 10, shortly apiculate, alternating with a pair of narrowly deltate appendages
Disc
annular, crenulate, free from ovary and staminal tube
Ovary
with 4-8 locules, each with 2 superposed ovules; style head capitate with 4-8 short, erect or incurved stigmatic lobes
Fruit
a 3-8-locular drupe; locules usually 1-seeded
Seeds
without wing or aril
x = 7 (polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
*Melia
L.
Linnaeus: 384 (1753)
White & Styles: 315 (1963)
White & Styles: 49 (1986)
Distribution & Notes:
Southern Africa
: Species 1: *
Melia azedarach
L., referred to as Seringa or Persian Lilac; widely planted as ornamentals, and in places it is naturalised and has become a serious invader
References:
LINNAEUS, C. 1753.
Species plantarum
. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
WHITE, F. & STYLES, B.T. 1986.
Meliaceae
.
Flora of southern Africa
18, 3
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