206 CHINESE ECONOMIC TREES 



Tree 16ai. tall. Leaves twice or thrice compound. Leaflets oval, 

 elliptic, acute, margin very variable, entire to sharply toothed or incised. 

 Flowers showy, purplish with a lilac-like fragrance in panicles 10-15 cm. 

 long. Sepals acute ; petals oblanceolate, obtuse. Ovary 5 celled. Fruit 

 in drooping panicles. Drupe globose, yellow and smooth, 1.5 to 2 cm. 

 in diameter. 



Himalayas to China and Korea. China: W. Hupeh, to Yunnan 

 and Szechuan. 



Occasionally employed for medicinal uses. The stones are slightly 

 5 angled and are frequently made into beads and rosaries. Birds are 

 very fond of the fruits. This tree has become naturalized in the 

 southern portion of the U, S. of America. Extensively planted in China 

 as a shade tree. Few species can surpass Melia azederach in its 

 ornamental qualities. The foliage is graceful and feathery and is 

 retained well on toward winter; but the tree is chiefly desirable for its 

 flowers, which are conspicuous and produced in great profusion, of a 

 light lavender color, with a strong lilac odor which perfumes the air for 

 some distance. An added advantage is its very rapid growth. The 

 wood is coarse but durable, handsomely marked, suitable for making 

 furniture and for interior finish. In some sections of the country the 

 tree is sometimes attacked by a borer. 



CIPADESSA 



Shrubs or small trees. Leaves deciduous, odd pinnate. Inflorescence 

 panicled ; flowers subglobose ; calyx 5 toothed ; petals 5, oblong, spreading; 

 stamens united by their filaments into a deeply 10 lobed tube, the lobes 

 bifid at the apex; ovary 5 celled; style short, with capitate stigma; 

 ovules 2 in each cell. Fruit a fleshy drupe, 5 ribbed, 5 celled ; cells 1-2 

 seeded. 



1 or 2 species: Malaya, India and China. 



Cipadessa baccifera Miquel. 



(C. baccifera var. sinensis Render & Wilson) 



Shrubs to small tree. Branchlets, leaves, and inflorescence 

 pubescent or nearly glabrous. Leaves 8-25 cm. long; leaflets* 7-11, 

 opposite or subopposite, entire or coarsely serrate, short stalked'; petiole 

 2.5-10 cm. long, pubescent. Flowers small, 4-6 mm. in diameter. 



