MELIACEJE. 



Nat.sysf. cd. 2. p. 101. 



MELIA. 



Calyx 5-partite. Petals 5, patent. Stamen-tube 10-cleft at 

 the apex, with 10 anthers in the throat ; segments 2-S-partite ; 

 anthers opposite to the segments and a little shorter, oblong, 

 slightly apiculate. Ovary seated on a short disk, 5-celled; 

 cells each with 2 superposed ovules. Style columnar, breaking 

 off from the top of the ovary : stigma 5-lobed. Fruit a drupe, 

 with one 5-celled bony nut: cells 1-seeded. Trees. Leaves 

 alternate, bipinnate : leaflets in pairs with an odd one, toothed. 

 Peduncles axillary, simple below, above panicled, branched and 

 many-flowered. The number of parts of the flower occasion- 

 ally increased by a fifth. W. and A. 



297. M. Azedarach Linn. sp. pi. 550. Cav. diss. p. 363. 

 t. 207. DC. prodr. i. 621. Syria, East Indies ; now common 

 in the South of Europe. 



A bush 8-10 feet high. Leaves alternate, unequally bipinnate; leaf- 

 lets opposite, ovate, acute, serrated, sometimes incised. Flowers in 

 terminal panicles. Petals pale pink inside, deep lilac outside. Tube 

 of the stamens deep violet ; anthers yellow. Fruit the size of a small 

 olive. Root bitter and nauseous, used in North America as an an- 

 thelmintic j the pulp that surrounds the seeds is said to be deleterious, 

 but this is denied by Turpin. 



TRICHILIA. 



Calyx short, 45-toothed. Petals 4-5, distinct. Filaments 

 8-10, united at the base, or occasionally altogether into a tube ; 

 anthers erect, exserted. Ovary 3-2-celled, with two pendulous 

 ovules in each cell ; seated in a fleshy annular disk of variable 

 depth ; stigma capitate, 2 3-lobed. Capsule loculicidal, 3- or 

 rarely 2-valved. Seeds with a fleshy aril. - Trees or shrubs, 

 with unequally pinnated leaves. Flowers panicled or racemose, 

 axillary. 



298. T. emetica Vahl. Ad. de Juss. Meliac. 84. Elcaja 

 Forsk.fl. ceg. arab. 127. Common on the mountains of Yemen ; 

 also in Senegal. (Roka.) 



A tree. Branches villous. Leaves alternate, unequally pinnated, 

 with a taper villous stalk ; leaflets in 4 pairs, oval-oblong, silvery with 

 down on the under side. Flowers like those of an orange, in axillary 

 corymbs collected into a panicle. Calyx campanulate, villous. Petals 

 villous outside, linear, recurved. Filaments 1 0, white, linear. Capsules 

 obovate, 3-valved, an inch long. Seeds enveloped in a red aril. 

 151 L 4 



