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Chinaberrytree

Melia azedarach

Plant: Deciduous tree to 50 ft (15 m) tall and 2 ft (60 cm) in diameter, much branched, with lacy, twice-pinnately compound leaves, usually dark green and having a musky odor, axillary clusters of lavender flowers in early summer, yielding persistent yellow berries, fruit poisonous. Spreads by rootsprouts to form colonies.

Stem: Twigs stout, glossy greenish-brown with light dots (lenticels), terminal bud absent, branches with numerous leaf scars, broad V-shaped, raised with 3 bundle scars below a hemispherical fuzzy bud. Bark dark chocolate brown and becoming fissured with age. Wood soft and white.

Leaves: Alternately whorled, twice-pinnately compound, 1-2 ft (30-60 cm) long and 9-16 in (24-40 cm) wide, leaflets lanceolate with tapering tips, 1-3 in (2-8 cm) long and 0.5-1.2 in (1-3 cm) wide, margins entire to coarsely crenate to serrate and wavy, glossy dark-green with light-green midveins above and pale green with lighter-green midveins beneath, becoming golden yellow in fall, leaf-stalks lime-green and slightly clasping stem.

Flowers: Mar-May. Showy panicles from lower axils of new stems, 5 petals, pinkish lavender to whitish, 5 sepals, green, stamens united in dark purple tube, fragrant.

July (J. MIller)
November (J. Miller)

Fruit and Seeds: Aug-Nov. Berry-like drupe, spherical, 0.5-0.7 in (1.2-1.8 cm) wide, light-green becoming yellowish-green to yellowish tan, containing a stone with 1-6 seeds, poisonous.

Ecology: Widely planted as an ornamental around old homes and spreading by rootsprouts and abundant seeds. Common on roadsides and forest margins.

Resembles elderberry (Sambucus canadensis ) a spreading crowned shrub with once-pinnately compound leaves, margins finely serrated, and green to dark purple berries in flat-topped clusters.

Exotic Pest Plant Control Recommendations

Bayer International Code - MEAZ
FIA Code - 0993



January (J. Miller) May (T. Bodner)


July (J. Miller) July (J. Miller)


July (J. Miller) July (J. Miller)

* USDA, NRCS. 2001. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.1 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA. February 5, 2002.
States with suspected
infestations are shown in red.*
line
USDA Forest ServiceUSDA APHIS PPQ The Bugwood Network University of Georgia Invasive.org is a joint project of
The Bugwood Network, USDA Forest Service & USDA APHIS PPQ.
The University of Georgia - Warnell School of Forest Resources and
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences - Dept. of Entomology
Last updated on Sunday, August 10, 2003 at 11:10 PM
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