158 WILSON EXPEDITION TO CHINA 



Melia Azedarach, /3. sempervirens Linnaeus, Spec. I. 385 (1783). 



Melia sempervirens Swartz, Nov. Gen. Sp. Prodr. 67 (1788). — Ker in Bot. 



Reg. VIII. 643 (1822). 

 Melia florida Salisbury, Prodr. 317 (1796). 

 Melia samhucina Blume, Bijdr. 162 (1825). 

 Melia australis Sweet, Hort. Brit. ed. 2, 85 (1830). 

 Melia japonica G. Don, Gen. Syst. I. 680 (1831). — Maximowicz in Act. Hort. 



Petrop. XI. 96 (1890). — Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. For. Jap. II. t. 35, fig. 14- 



26 (1908). 

 Melia biikaijun Royle, III. Bot. Himal. 144 (1839). 

 Melia Commelinii Medicus ex Steudel, Nomencl. Bot. II. 118 (quasi synon.) 



(1841). 

 Melia cochinchinensis Roemer, Fam. Nat. Syn. 95 (1846). 

 Melia orientalis Roemer, Fam. Nat. Syn. 95 (1846). 

 Melia Toosendan Siebold & Zuccarini in Ahh. Akad. Miinch. IV. pt. III. 159 



(Fl. Jap. Fam. Nat. II. 51) (1846). 

 Melia composita Bentham, Fl. Austral. I. 380 (non De CandoUe) (1863). 

 Melia chinensis Siebold ex Miquel in Ann. Mus. Lugd.-Bat. III. 23 (quasi 



synon.) (1867); Prol. Fl. Jap. 211 (1867). 

 Melia Azedarach, var. subtripinnata Miquel in Ann. MtLS. Lugd.-Bat. III. 24 



(1867); ProZ. FZ. Jap. 212 (1867). 

 Azedarach sempervirens Kuntze, Rev. Gen. I. 109 (1891). 

 Melia japonica, var. semperflorens Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XVIII. 67 



(1904). 



Western Hupeh: Ichang and neighborhood, alt. 30-300 m., 

 April, May and October 1907 (No. 3267; tree 3-12 m. tall, girth 0.6- 

 2 m., bark grey, fissured, flowers lilac, fruit white); without precise 

 locality, A. Henry (Nos. 3882, 7620). Szech'uan: without precise 

 locality, E. Fdber (No. 572). Yunnan: Chu-yuan, A. Henry (No. 

 10864); Szemao, forests, alt. 1500 m., A. Henry (No. 12,889). 

 Shensi: Han-chung Hsien, 1910, W. Purdom (No. 321). North- 

 central China: " Lao-y-san," Hugh Scallan. Formosa: South 

 Cape, A. Henry (Nos. 690, 1281); Avithout locality, G. M. Playfair 

 (No. 297). Korea: Quelpaert, June 1907, U. Faurie (No. 1607); 

 same locality, May 1908, October 1909, Taquet (Nos. 598, 2700). 



This tree, now so widely spread in the warm-temperate and sub-tropical parts 

 of the world is without doubt indigenous to central and western China where it is 

 very common up to 800 m. altitude. A colloquial name for it in Hupeh and Sze- 

 ch'uan is " Lien shu " or " Ch'uan-lien shu," and the fruit is occasionally em- 

 ployed as a drug. 



The different specimens before us exhibit the characters on which various 

 authors have founded species but we find every intermediate condition and are 

 quite unable to distinguish even a marked variety. The dentation of the leaves, 

 and the size of the inflorescence and fruit varies exceedingly. Melia Toosendan 

 Siebold & Zuccarini represents a form with very large nearly globose fruit, but 

 some specimens before us completely connect this with forms having small fruit. 

 Material from trees cultivated and naturahzed in America exhibit a wider range 

 of variation than do all the Old World specimens we have seen. 



