4175.000 Melia L.

Trees or shrubs. Leaves 2(rarely 3)-pinnate; pinnae and leaflets opposite or subopposite. Leaflets usually crenate or serrate, stellate-hairy when young. Flowers bisexual and male on the same plant, pale lilac (in ours) in large, sweet-scented, stellate-hairy panicles. Calyx lobed to base, lobes 5(-6). Petals 5(-6), free. Staminal tube cylindric; anthers 10-12, alternating with a pair of narrowly triangular appendages. Ovary 4-8-locular. Fruit a drupe with 4-8 loosely united pyrenes, each with 1-2 seeds.

Worldwide: 3 species in the Old World tropics