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  1. Family: Meliaceae Juss.

    1. Melia L.

        2. This genus is accepted, and its native range is NE. & E. Tropical Africa, Tropical Asia to E. & E. Australia.

    [FTEA]

    Meliaceae, Styles & F. White (Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford). Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1991

    Habit
    Trees
    Indumentum
    Indumentum of simple, glandular and stellate hairs
    Leaves
    Leaves 2–3-pinnate; leaflets subentire to deeply serrate or crenate
    Flowers
    Flowers hermaphrodite and ♂ on the same individual (plant andromonoecious)
    Calyx
    Calyx lobed almost to the base; lobes 5(–6), lanceolate, imbricate
    Corolla
    Petals 5(–6), free, imbricate
    Stamens
    Staminal tube narrowly cylindric, slightly expanded at the mouth; anthers 10, shortly apiculate; appendages alternating with or opposite to the anthers
    Disc
    Disk annular, free, surrounding the base of the ovary
    Pistil
    Ovary 4–8-locular; locules with 2 superposed ovules; style-head scarcely wider than the style, with 4–8 erect stigmatic lobes
    Fruits
    Fruit 3–8-locular drupe; locules usually 1-seeded
    Distribution
    3 species, 2 of which are indigenous to Africa; the third, M. azedarach as a wild plant extends from India to Australia — it is widely planted, and locally naturalized, in the tropics and subtropics.
    [FZ]

    Meliaceae, F. White & B. T. Styles. Flora Zambesiaca 2:1. 1963

    Habit
    Trees or shrubs.
    Indumentum
    Indumentum of simple, glandular, and stellate hairs.
    Leaves
    Leaves 2- or 3-pinnate; leaflets usually rather deeply crenate or serrate.
    Flowers
    Flowers bisexual.
    Calyx
    Calyx lobed almost to the base, lobes 5 (6), lanceolate, imbricate.
    Corolla
    Petals 5 (6), free, much longer than the calyx in bud, imbricate (sometimes only distinctly so at the apex).
    Stamens
    Staminal tube cylindric; anthers 10–12, shortly apiculate, alternating with a pair of narrowly deltate appendages.
    Disc
    Disk annular, crenulate, free from the ovary and staminal tube.
    Pistil
    Ovary 4–8-locular, each loculus with 2 superposed ovules (the lower pendulous, the upper directed upwards); style elongate, shorter than the staminal tube; style-head scarcely wider than the style, coroniform, with 4–8 erect stigmatic lobes.
    Fruits
    Fruit drupaceous with 4–8 loosely united pyrenes, each with 1–2 seeds.

    Images

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Ethiopia, Hainan, India, Kenya, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Philippines, Queensland, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam, Western Australia

    Introduced into:

    Afghanistan, Alabama, Algeria, Angola, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Ascension, Bahamas, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Burkina, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Cayman Is., Central African Repu, Chad, Christmas I., Cook Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, East Aegean Is., Easter Is., El Salvador, Fiji, France, Free State, Galápagos, Gambia, Guatemala, Gulf of Guinea Is., Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Jamaica, Japan, Kazan-retto, Korea, Kriti, KwaZulu-Natal, Lebanon-Syria, Leeward Is., Lesotho, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico Central, Mexico Southwest, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nansei-shoto, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Mexico, Norfolk Is., Northern Provinces, Ogasawara-shoto, Pakistan, Palestine, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Rodrigues, Rwanda, Réunion, Seychelles, Sicilia, Solomon Is., South Australia, Southwest Caribbean, Spain, St.Helena, Sudan, Swaziland, Tennessee, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad-Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks-Caicos Is., Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Victoria, Windward Is., Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

    Melia L. appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    s.coll. [Cat. no. s.n.] K001132325

    First published in Sp. Pl.: 384 (1753)

    Literature

    Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • Harms in E. & P. Pflanzenfam. 19B, 1: 99 (1940).
    • —F.T.A. 1: 332
    Flora Zambesiaca
    • Gen. Pl. ed. 5: 182 (1754).
    • Sp. Pl. 1: 384 (1753)
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • Pennington & Styles in Blumea 22: 463 (1975)
    • L., Gen. Pl., ed. 5: 182 (1754)
    • Sp. Pl.: 384 (1753)

    Sources

    Flora Zambesiaca
    Flora Zambesiaca
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
    'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

    Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0