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PRIDE OF INDIA. 
Decandria monogynia. Linn. Meliœ. Juss. 
Melia azedarach. M. foliis bipinnatis. 
This tree is a native of Persia. For the beauty of its flowers and the 
elegance of its foliage, it has long been in request in southern climates for 
embellishing towns and adorning the environs of dwellings. It is propa- 
gated for this purpose in India, in the Isles of France and Bourbon, in 
Syria, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the southern departments of France. In 
the New World it is found in several towns of the West Indies and of 
South America ; and on the Northern Continent it is so abundant and so 
easily multiplied in the maritime parts of the Southern States, as to be 
ranked among their natural productions. This claim upon our attention 
is enforced -by 'the, valuhle properties of its bark and of its wood. 
The Pride of India rises to the height of 30 or 40 feet, with a diameter 
of 15 or 20 inches; but,' when standing alone, its growth is usually arrested 
at a lower elevation, and it spreads into a spacious summit. Its leaves are 
of a dark green color, large, doubly pinnate, and composed of smooth, acu- 
minate, denticulated leaflets. The lilac flowers, which form axillary clusters 
at the extremity of the branches, produce a fine effect, and exhale a deli- 
cious odor. The ripe seeds are large, round and yellowish ; they are sought 
with’ avidity by certain birds, particularly by the red-breasts, in their 
annual migration to the South, which, after gorging themselves immod- 
erately, are sometimes found stupefied by their narcotic power. The ven- 
omous principle which resides in this tree is taken notice of by Avicenna, 
an Arabian physician, who flourished about the year 980. In Persia the 
itch is cured with an ointment made by pounding its leaves with lard. 
The Pride of India prospers in a dry and sandy soil, and magnificent 
stocks are seen, in the streets of Charleston and Savannah. Its foliage, 
which, as well as the flowers, is developed early in the spring, affords a 
delightful refreshment to the eye, and yields a shelter from the fervor of the 
sun during the intense heat of summer. It grows with such rapidity, that 
from the seed it attains the height of 12 or 15 feet in four years. This 
surprising vegetation is chiefly remarked in stocks less than ten years of 
age, in which the concentric circles are more distant than in any other 
