Meliaceae Juss.

Trees, shrubs or shrublets. Wood often scented. Indumentum of simple, glandular or stellate hairs. Leaves usually alternate, 2-or 3-pinnate, simply impari-or paripinnate, 3-foliolate, 1-foliolate or simple; leaflets entire, crenate or serrate. Stipules absent. Inflorescence usually axillary or in axils of fallen leaves, of cymose panicles or of compound or simple cymes or flowers fasciculate, rarely solitary. Flowers bisexual or unisexual, monoecious or dioecious, occasionally polygamous, actinomorphic, mainly 4–5-merous; sepals and petals dissimilar. Sepals small, 4–6, variously connate or almost free, the lobes imbricate or with open aestivation, never completely covering corolla in bud. Petals usually 4–5, free (adnate to the staminal tube in Turraeanthus), valvate, imbricate or contorted. Disk intrastaminal, very variable, rarely absent, often developed from the gynophore, completely fused to base of staminal tube, or annular, cup-shaped or cushion-shaped and free from staminal tube and ovary or cushion-shaped and enveloping the base of the ovary. Stamens (5–)8–10(–20), rarely completely free, usually partly or completely fused to form a staminal tube, usually bearing appendages; anthers 2-thecous, dehiscing longitudinally, connective usually apiculate beyond anther-lobes. Ovary superior, (2–)4–5(–20)-locular, with axile placentation; ovules 1–many per locule; style 1; style-head expanded, capitate, globose, ovoid, cylindric, discoid or coroniform, entire or shallowly lobed, only partly stigmatic, sometimes (>i>Turraea) functioning as a ‘receptaculum pollinis’. Fruit usually a loculicidal or septifragal capsule or a drupe, rarely a leathery cleistocarp or a berry. Seeds usually arillate, winged or with a corky or woody outer covering; endosperm present or absent

The timbers of certain Meliaceae are some of the most sought after in the world, such that natural stands have been much depleted. The original ‘mahogany’ of 18th Century English furniture-makers Hepplewhite and Chippendale was Swietenia mahagoni (L.) Jacq. of the neotropics, which allowed the manufacture of more graceful and woodworm-proof furniture than could the oak and walnut previously utilised in Europe: this species has suffered severe genetic erosion and most ‘mahogany’ seen today (if meliaceous at all) is derived from S. macrophylla King, introduced to the Old World in 1876 and described from cultivated material in India. Toona ciliata M.Roem., Red Cedar, has suffered similarly (see below). The other important meliaceous timbers are generally Cedreloideae, notably the neotropical Cedrela odorata L. and species of the African genera Entandrophragma (Sapele, Utile), Khaya (African Mahogany) and Lovoa (Nigerian Golden Walnut). In Australia, where the timbers of Melioideae are generally known as Rosewood, the most important are in the genus Dysoxylum, which includes fine timber species in Indonesia and New Zealand as well. Although a number of species have been tried in plantations in Australia and elsewhere, there are very serious problems due to the depredations of Hypsipyla moths, the larvae of which are pernicious shoot-borers. A number of Malesian Meliaceae are valuable fruit trees, notably the Langsat and Duku, cultivars of Lansium domesticum Corrêa, and the Sentul, Sandoricum koetjape (Burm.f.) Merr., a species grown in Queensland. More important on a world scale are Azadirachta indica A.Juss. as a soil ameliorant and source of innumerable by-products (see below) and Melia azedarach L. as a source of insecticides and second quality timber (see below). The bitterness of the barks of many Meliaceae has long been known and they are of considerable importance in local medicine in Indomalesia, where European settlers eagerly sought them as possible antimalarials: they are now receiving renewed interest. Besides aboriginal use as fish-poisons (Melia) and for food (fruits of Owenia species), Australian Meliaceae are otherwise only utilised as shade-trees for stock and for ornament. Exotic species grown in plantation include the neotropical Cedrela odorata L., cultivated in Queensland and New South Wales for timber and as a street-tree; it is becoming naturalised in the Old World, as, for example, in New Caledonia, and may be expected to do so in Queensland. It yields one of the most important tropical hardwoods. The neotropical true mahoganies are in plantation in the Old World, including Queensland: Swietenia macrophylla King is the principal source of present-day mahogany, considered one of the most valuable timbers for cabinetwork. Other exotics, particularly African species of Turraea and Khaya, are grown in private and botanic gardens. Khaya senegalensis is recorded from two Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. One record describes the species as abundant in a disturbed area in and around houses, forming a woodland of this species. It could easily become naturalised from this population.