Neem

The tree is cultivated in the warmer parts of the country. It yields good timber. All parts of the plant are medicinal. The bitter bark is used in mak¬ing gum, the leaves are used as a poultice for boils; dried leaves serve in place of mothballs. The fruit is edible and oil extracted from the seeds can be used as a purgative and anthelmintic.

Tree, up to 15 m tall. Branches glabrous. Leaves imparipinnate, pulvi¬nus at the base; leaflets alternate to opposite, 2.5-7 cm long, 1.5-4 cm broad, ovate, subsessile, acuminate. Flowers white, sweet-scented. Sepals obovate, 1.5 mm long, puberulous, imbricate. Petals 6 mm long, obvoate to oblong, white, margin ciliate. Staminal tube c. 5 mm long, puberulous, 10-striate, 10-toothed; teeth 2-lobed; anthers oblong, basifixed. Ovary sub-globose; style linear, c. 2.5 mm long; stigma trifid. Drupe oblong, 1.3-2 cm long, greenish-yellow, 1-seeded.

Himalaya, India. Widely cultivated.

Distribution : A native of India and China, cultivated and naturalized through-out India, Malaysia and Pakistan.

900 m

Fl. Per. April-May.