Meliaceae

Abstract

Trees, treelets, often pachycaul or, more rarely, shrubs or suckering shrublets, monopodial or sympodial, rarely with Terminalia branching (Vavaea), dioecious (though sometimes, at least, ‘male’ trees occasionally producing bisexual flowers), polygamous, monoecious or with all flowers bisexual; indumentum of simple, bifid or stellate hairs or stellate or peltate scales or sometimes mixtures of these, sometimes with small glands; buds naked or with scale-leaves. Leaves exstipulate (occasionally pseudostipules present), in spirals, rarely decussate, pinnate, sometimes with a terminal ‘bud’, i.e. pseudogemmula, trifoliolate, with a single blade (simple or unifoliolate) or rarely bipinnate (Melia); rachis very rarely winged; leaflets usually entire, rarely lobed or serrate (or spinous), sometimes with minute black glandular dots. Inflorescences axillary, supra-axillary, ramiflorous, cauliflorous to ground level or rarely epiphyllous (Chisocheton), thyrsoid, racemose or spicate, sometimes reduced to fascicles or solitary flowers.

Meliaceae Juss. (1789, ‘Melieae’), nom. cons.