MELIACEJE. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 101. 



MELIA. 



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

 the apex, with 10 anthers in the throat ; segments 2-3-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; the pulp that surrounds the seeds is said to be deleterious, 

 but this is denied by Turpin. 



TRICHILIA. 



Calyx short, 4-5-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. <zg. 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 10, white, linear. Capsules 

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

 151 L 4 



