0105 



CHINABERRY TREE. 



Family: MELIACEAE. 



Reproductive system: DECANDRY, MONOGYNY. 



The chinaberry tree [Translator's note: also called pride of India], Melia 

 azedarach^ Linn., originally from Asia, is now acclimatized in Spain, in the southern 

 provinces of France, and endures the winter in open ground in the gardens of Paris and its 

 surroundings. It's a tree ten to twelve feet high with blackish bark and densely branched 

 at the top. The leaves, gathered at the ends of the branches, are alternate, bipinnately 

 compound with oval, pointed, toothed, often Iobed, smooth leaflets. The flowers are on 

 the ends of the branches in upright clusters. The calyx is small, with five divisions. The 

 corolla is white, tinged with violet, with five open oblong petals. The ten stamens insert 

 inside the top of a notched tube, or cylindrical nectary, that surrounds the pistil. The 

 stigma forms its head. The fruit is a round nut, fleshy, with five monospermous 

 compartments. 



FLOWERS: in July. 



RANGE: Asia, acclimatized in France. 



NOMENCLATURE. Melia. Greek name for the ash tree, which this one resembles 

 in its foliage. Azedarach, the name that the Arab physician Avicenna used for it, (bk. 4). 

 Commonly called / 'arbre aux patenotres, le lilas des Indes, le margousier, Varbre saint 

 [Translator's note: paternoster tree, lilac of India, sacred tree]. English, bead-tree. 

 German, zederach^ gemeine melia. Italian, paternostro. Spanish, el cinamomo. 

 Portuguese, amargoseira. Arabic, zcenzalacht. Chinese, Xun lien. 



USES. The tree in bloom makes a very fine sight in a garden. Its wood is light red, 

 extremely hard, and takes a beautiful polish. It could become widely used for inlay work, 

 especially in the south of France, where it grows forty or fifty feet high. 



The fruit of the chinaberry tree is toxic. It's been used to poison dogs. 



