Melia azedarach L.

മലവേപ്പ്‌

Family : MELIACEAE

Synonym :

Melia superba Roxb.

Common Names : Malaveppu, Kattuveppu, Valiyaveppu, Bead tree, Indian Lilac, Persian lilac, Pride of India, White Cedar

Flowering Period : May-December

Distribution : Tropical Asia, Australia and Africa

Habitat : Grown as avenue tree

Uses : Leaves edible. A bitter flavour, they are used as a pot-herb, in curries, soups etc. The leaf juice is anthelmintic, antilithic, diuretic and emmenagogue. The flowers and leaves are applied as a poultice in the treatment of neuralgia and nervous headache. The seed is antirheumatic. The seed contains up to 40% of a drying oil. It is used for lighting, varnish etc.

Key Characters :

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.