Flora Medica

MELIACEJE.Nat.sysf. cd. 2. p. 101.MELIA.Calyx 5-partite. Petals 5, patent. Stamen-tube 10-cleft atthe apex, with 10 anthers in the throat ; segments 2-S-partite ;anthers opposite to the segments and a little shorter, oblong,slightly apiculate. Ovary seated on a short disk, 5-celled;cells each with 2 superposed ovules. Style columnar, breakingoff from the top of the ovary:stigma 5-lobed. Fruit a drupe,with one 5-celled bony nut: cells 1-seeded. Trees. Leavesalternate, bipinnate : leaflets in pairs with an odd one, toothed.Peduncles axillary, simple below, above panicled, branched andmany-flowered. The number of parts of the flower occasionallyincreased by a fifth.W. and A.297. M. Azedarach Linn. sp. pi. 550. Cav. diss. p. 363.t. 207. DC. prodr.i. 621. Syria, East Indies ;now commonin the South of Europe.A bush 8-10 feet high. Leaves alternate, unequally bipinnate; leafletsopposite, ovate, acute, serrated, sometimes incised. Flowers interminal panicles.Petals pale pink inside, deep lilac outside. Tubeof the stamens deep violet ;anthers yellow. Fruit the size of a smallolive. Root bitter and nauseous, used in North America as an anthelminticjthe pulp that surrounds the seeds is said to be deleterious,but this is denied by Turpin.TRICHILIA.Calyx short, 45-toothed. Petals 4-5, distinct. Filaments8-10, united at the base, or occasionally altogether into a tube ;anthers erect, exserted. Ovary 3-2-celled, with two pendulousovules in each cell ;seated in a fleshy annular disk of variabledepth ; stigma capitate, 2 3-lobed. Capsule loculicidal, 3- orrarely 2-valved. Seeds with a fleshy aril. - Trees or shrubs,with unequally pinnated leaves. Flowers panicled or racemose,axillary.298. T. emetica Vahl. Ad. de Juss. Meliac. 84. ElcajaForsk.fl. ceg. arab. 127. Common on the mountains of Yemen ;also in Senegal. (Roka.)A tree. Branches villous. Leaves alternate, unequally pinnated,with a taper villous stalk ; leaflets in 4 pairs, oval-oblong, silvery withdown on the under side. Flowers like those of an orange, in axillarycorymbs collected into a panicle. Calyx campanulate, villous. Petalsvillous outside, linear, recurved. Filaments 1 0, white, linear. Capsulesobovate, 3-valved, an inch long. Seeds enveloped in a red aril.151 L 4