Melia dubia Cav. (MELIACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Hebbevu, Betta bevu.
Tulu: Thurka bevu.
Malayalam: Malavembu.
Sanskrit: Arangaka.
Tamil: Malai vembu.
Telugu: Munnati karaka.
English: Great neem.
Description: Trees up to 25 m tall with whitish grey bark; young parts scurfy-tomentose. Leaves alternate, bi- or occasionally tri-pinnate, up to 1 m long; pinnae 3-8 pairs; leaflets 3-13, ovate-lanceolate to ovate round, up to 12 x 4 cm, rounded and oblique at base, acuminate at apex, serrulate or entire along margins; petiolulesca 5 mm long. Flowers in 12-20 cm long, panicles, greenish white, fragrant. Calyx 5 lobed, tomentose. Petals 5, linear-spathulate, concave pubescent outside, puberulous inside. Staminal tube white, slightly expanded at apex with 10, 2-fid appendages; anthers 10, exserted, pubescent. The ovary is glabrous and 5-locular, with a style slightly longer than the staminal tube, and a cylindrical, 5-toothed stigma. The drupes are ovoid or ellipsoid, reaching up to 4 x 2.5 cm, pulpy, and turn yellowish when ripe. The seeds are oblong and compressed, ranging from 1 to 6 in number.
Flowering & Fruiting: March – February.
Distribution: India: Sikkim, Himalayas, Assam Khasi hills, North Bengal, Orissa, N. Circars, Deccan and Western Ghats at 1500 – 1800 m. Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Uses: Wood is used for packing cases, cigar boxes, ceiling planks, building purposes, agricultural implements, pencils, match boxes, splints and kattumarans. It is suitable for musical instruments, tea boxes and plywoods. It is a good fuel wood. Fruit anthelmintic, used in colic, one of the ingredients in preparation used in skin troubles.
