STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 553 



73. MELIACEAE. Chinaberry Family. 



(Contributed by S. F. Blake.) 



Trees or shrubs; leaves alternate, estipulate, usually pinnate ; flowers regular, 

 hermaphrodite (in ours); calyx 4 or 5-lobed or parted; petals 4 or 5. free 

 or adnate to the disk; stamens 5, 8, or 10, usually united into a tube (free in 

 Cedrela) ; disk annular or stipitiform, sometimes elongate; ovary free, 2 to 

 5-celled ; ovules usually 2, sometimes 1 or 12 ; style simple ; stigma disk-shaped 

 or pyramidate ; fruit capsular, rarely drupaceous. 



Filaments united at least to middle. 



Leaves bipinnate; fruit drupaceous 1. MELIA. 



Leaves once pinuiitc; fruit a capsule. 



Anthers borne on apex of the staminal tube or of its lobes. 



2. TRICHILIA. 

 Anthers borne inside the apex of the staminal tube. 



Ovules 1 or 2 in each cell ; seeds not winged 3. GTJAREA, 



Ovules 12 in each cell ; seeds winged 4. SWIETENIA. 



Filaments free - 5. CEDRELA, 



1. MELIA L. Sp. PI. 384. 1753. 



Reference : C. De Candolle in DC. Mouogr. Phan. 1 : 450^59. 1878. 

 1. Melia azedarach L. Sp. PI. 384. 1753. 



Melia azedarach a glabrior C. DC. in DC. Monogr. Phan. 1: 452. 1878. 



Escaped from cultivation throughout Mexico. Native of the Old World; 

 escaped from cultivation from the southwestern United States southward. 



Tree, up to 15 meters high ; leaves bipinnate, the leaflets toothed ; flowers 

 panieled, pink or lilac, sweet-scented ; sepals 5 ; petals 5 ; filaments united into 

 a tube, this 20-toothed at apex; anthers 10, sessile inside the apex of the tube; 

 fruit a 4-seeded translucent drupe. " Paralso " (Michoacrvn, Yucatan, Vera- 

 cTuz, San Luis Potosi, Oaxaca, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay, Philippines, 

 Colombio, Cuba, Guatemala); " piocha " (Oaxaca); " canelo " (Nuevo Le6n, 

 San Luis Potosi) ; "paralso morado " {H err era) ; " lila " (Chihuahua, Santo 

 Domingo); "paraguas chino " (Chihuahua); "lila de las Indias," "lila de 

 China" {Nuevo Farm. Mex.) ; " jacinto " (Panama); " lilaila," " pasilla " 

 (Porto Rico) ; " ftrbol de quitasol " (Cuba). 



The chinaberry (known also as china-tree, pride of India, and umbrella-tree) 

 is much planted in Mexican parks and gardens. It grows very rapidly, but the 

 trees do not last long and the branches are easily broken off. Both flowers and 

 fruit are borne in great profusion, and the yellowish fruits hang on the tree a 

 long time. The wood is soft and weak. The large seeds are sometimes used 

 as beads, and oil has been extracted from them. 



The bark contains a bitter principle, mangrovin. The roots have a bitter, 

 nauseous taste ; they have been widely used as an anthelmintic but their effi- 

 cacy is doubtful. The leaves are reported to have emetic properties, and they 

 have been employed as a febrifuge and as a remedy for hysteria. The fruit 

 is eaten by cattle, but it is generally reputed to be poisonous to human beings. 

 The bark is said to be used in some regions for stupefying fish. In the southern 

 United States there is a belief that if horses eat the fruits they will be pro- 

 tected against attacks of hots. It is said also that the berries packed with 

 dried fruit will prevent the attacks of insects and that if laid among clothes 

 they will keep away moths. A decoction of the fruits sprinkled over growing 

 plants is reported to guard them from injury by cutworms and other insects. 



The specific name azedarach is of Arabic origin. For an illustration of the 

 chinaberry see Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 8: pi. f5. 



