Melia azedarach, 
THE PRIDE OF CHINA. 
Synonymes. 
Melia azedarach, 
Azedarach, 
Zederach, Paternosterbaum, 
Azadarac, Azarac, Azabrack, Zaccheo, 
Sicornoro falso, Albero de' Paternostri 
di San Domenico, 
Arbol de Paraiso, Cinamomo, 
Amargoseira, 
Zamzalacht, 
Dek, 
Indian Lilac, Persian Lilac, Bead-tree, 
Neem-tree, Hill Margosa, 
Pride of China, Pride of India, 
(Linnjeus, Species Plantarum. 
De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Michaux, North American Sylva. 
I Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
\ Torrey and Gray, Flora of North America. 
France. 
Germany. 
> Italy. 
Spain and Spanish America. 
Portugal. 
Arabia. 
Northern Provinces of India. 
| Britain. 
United States. 
Derivations. The specific name is derived from the Persian, azad-i-durukht, which signifies the tree of pre-eminence. The 
German name signifies Paternoster-tree, in allusion to the nuts of this tree being used for rosaries. The Spanish name, Arbol de 
^araiso, signifies tree of Paradise. 
Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 102; Audubon, Birds of America, pi. lxiii. ; Loudon, Arboretum Britan- 
icum, i. figure 138 ; and the figures below. 
Specific Characters. Leaves deciduous; leaflets about 5-together, glabrous, obliquely ovate-lanceolate, 
acuminate ; petals (lilac) nearly glabrous. Torrey and Gray, Flora. 
Description. 
!HE Melia azedarach, in 
favourable situations, 
often attains a height 
_ H^ESH of thirty or forty feet, 
with a trunk fifteen or twenty inches in diam- 
eter ; but when standing alone, it usually 
rests at a smaller elevation, and diffuses itself 
into a spreading summit, with a stem six or 
eight feet in circumference. Its leaves are of 
i dark-green, large, doubly-pinnate, and com- 
posed of smooth, acuminate, or obliquely-acu- 
minate, denticulated leaflets. The leaves 
3hange colour, and fall, with the slightest 
cold, almost without frost, which usually 
takes place in the southern states in Novem- 
ber or December. When in bloom, it has 
some resemblance to the lilac. The flowers, 
which appear in March, April, or May, form 
beautiful axillary clusters at the extremity of 
the shoots, and exhale a delicious odour. The fruit is round, or oblong, of a 
yellowish colour when ripe, and about the size of a common cherry. The nut, 
or kernel of the fruit, is of a brownish colour, and is surrounded by a sweetish 
pulp, which is sought after with avidity by some species of birds, particularly 
