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Magnoliopsida
Melia azedarach L.
EOL Text
Native to India but naturalised elsewhere
Trees to 10 m tall, deciduous. Bark brownish gray, longitudinally exfoliating. Branches spreading; branchlets with leaf scars. Leaves odd-pinnate, 2-pinnate or 3-pinnate, 20-40 cm; leaflets opposite; leaflet blades ovate, elliptic, or lanceolate, 3-7 × 2-3 cm but terminal one usually slightly larger, both surfaces with stellate trichomes when young but glabrescent, secondary veins 12-16 on each side of midvein, outspread and ascending, base ± oblique and cuneate to broadly cuneate, margin crenate or sometimes entire, apex shortly acuminate. Thyrses ± ca. 1/2 as long as leaves, glabrous or covered with short lepidote pubescence. Flowers fragrant. Calyx 5-parted; sepals ovate to oblong-ovate, outside puberulent, apex acute. Petals lilac-colored, obovate-spatulate, 0.9-1.3 cm, both surfaces puberulent but usually outside more densely so. Staminal tube purple, 7-8 mm, with longitudinal stripes, glabrous or subglabrous, apical margin with 10 narrow lobes; lobes conic, further 2- or 3-lobed; anthers 10, inserted on inner side of lobes and alternate to lobes, narrowly elliptic, apex slightly mucronulate. Ovary spherical, glabrous, 5-8-locular, with 2 ovules per locule; style acerose; stigma capitate, not included within filament tube, apex 5-dentate. Drupe globose to ellipsoid, 1-3 × 0.8-1.5 cm; endocarp ligneous. Seed ellipsoid. Fl. Mar-May, fr. Oct-Dec.
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200012507 |
More info for the term: fresh
Chinaberry likely forms a short-term seed bank, and its longevity may be extended under certain conditions. A review [9] classified chinaberry with a group of other rainforest species that may undergo at least a short period of physiological dormancy (see Germination and seedling establishment). In Australia, chinaberry occurred occasionally in a tropical rainforest where viable chinaberry seeds were collected from soil samples at depths up to 2 inches (5 cm). A total of 13 chinaberry seeds germinated from 2 of the 12 samples [65]. In a forested sand dune in Virginia, chinaberry failed to germinate from 3-inch-deep (8 cm) soil samples although it occurred as a minor component in the overstory [95]. Menvielle and Scopel [87] indicated that under nondisturbed conditions, an annual supply of fresh chinaberry fruit may be necessary to maintain a continually viable chinaberry seed bank.
Chinaberry seed may retain viability for at least 1 year if kept in dry storage ([130], review by [34]). In a laboratory, seed in chinaberry stones stored at temperatures from -4 to 50 °F (-20 to 10 °C), and in variable moisture conditions, remained viable for 26 months. Seed viability declined with increased temperature and moisture, and lowest viability occurred in stones stored at 50 °F (10 °C) and 11.7% moisture. Researchers concluded that chinaberry seed may remain viable when stored over a wide range of air and moisture conditions, but longevity is typically increased with decreases in temperature and moisture [63].
chinaberry
China-berry
China berry
Chinaberrytree
pride-of-India
umbrella-tree
white cedar
United States
Origin: Exotic
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Unknown/Undetermined
Confidence: Confident
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Melia+azedarach |
Tree, up to 12 m tall; young shoots tomentose. Leaves 2-(3)-pinnate, up to 60 cm long; leaflets opposite, elliptic, 2.5-5 cm long, 5-19 mm broad, serrate to sub-serrate, acuminate, often oblique, sub-sessile. Flowers lilac, sweet-scented, in axillary panicles; pedicel 2-3 mm long, puberulous. Calyx 5-6-lobed; lobes c. 2 mm long, acute, pubescent. Petals 7-9 mm long, spathulate to lanceolate, ciliate, imbricate in bud. Staminal tube 6-7 mm long, cylindrical, expanded at the base and apex, 10-striate, with 20 teeth at the apex; anthers sessile, 1 bet¬ween each pair of teeth. Disc glabrous, fused with the ovary base. Ovary usually 5-locular; style 4-5 mm long; stigma capitate. Drupe 1.5-2 cm long, globose, 3-6-seeded, yellow when ripe.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=200012507 |
More info for the term: natural
In North America, chinaberry seed is dispersed by animals, gravity, and possibly water. Birds and mammals eat chinaberry fruit and disperse its seed ([95,130], reviews by [33,77,134]). Cattle egrets in Texas use fruit-bearing twigs of chinaberry for nesting material, thus dispersing its seed [121]. Seedlings emerge in abundance near the parent plant (review by [55]), suggesting that much of the seed is gravity dispersed. In Hawaii, chinaberry does not appear to have a natural dispersal agent and is thought to be dispersed by humans [112]. In Africa, chinaberry is dispersed by water and birds [59,64].
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 8
Specimens with Barcodes: 38
Species With Barcodes: 1