Azadirachta indica A. Juss.

ആര്യവേപ്പ്

Family : Meliaceae

Synonym : Melia azadirachta L.

Common Names : Aryaveepu, Neem, Indian lilac, Margosa Tree

Flowering Period : February – September

Distribution : Indo-Malesia

Habitat : Dry deciduous forests, also widely planted

Uses : Fruits edible, Ayurvedic, firewood, drought tolerant, young leaves edible, anti-helminthic. A very bitter flavour, they are often eaten as a pre-meal appetizer. Among its many benefits, the one that is most unusual and immediately practical is the control of farm and household pests. Some entomologists now conclude that neem has such remarkable powers for controlling insects that it will usher in a new era in safe, natural pesticides.

Key Characters :
Neem, an evergreen tree with bark greyish-brown having verticale striations. Leaves imparipinnate, alternate, rachis slender and swollen at base. Leaflets  are opposite; with lanceolate or falcate lamina, and serrated margin. Flowers are bisexual, white, in axillary panicles; sepals 5, ovate, margin ciliate; petals 5, free, white, oblong-obovate, pubescent, and imbricate. Staminal tube glabrous; anthers 10; ovary superior, style slender, stigma terete, 3-lobed. Fruit  is a drupe.