FAMILY: MELIACEAE
ALTERNATE COMMON NAME: umbrella tree
LEAVES: deciduous, alternate, bipinnate or tripinnate; petioles long, blades up to ca. 20” long, subleaflets serrate
FLOWER: perfect (bisexual), with 5 showy pink to lilac petals to ca. 0.5” long; flowers organized in large axillary panicles; flowering in early spring
FRUIT: yellow subglobose drupe 0.4-0.6” broad (toxic!)
TWIGS: stout, purplish, smooth and dotted with round brownish-yellow lenticels; terminal buds absent; leaf scars prominent and raised, three-lobed; axillary buds rounded, densely stellate pubescent
BARK: brown to reddish-brown, with somewhat interlacing ridges and furrows
FORM: small, fast growing tree to ca. 50’ tall, often flowering and fruiting when of shrub stature
HABITAT: ruderal forests, open areas along streams, persistent at old home sites, old fields
WETLAND DESIGNATION: Obligate Upland (UPL): Almost never occurs in wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
RANGE: native to tropical Asia and Australia; introduced in southern US from Virginia to California [Global Range Map] [US County Range Map]
USES: ornamental, shade tree; wood used for veneer, carvings, furniture, cabinetry, musical instruments, matches, tool handles; dried fruits have been used for rosary beads in southern Louisiana
WILDLIFE: often browsed by whitetail deer
Best Recognition Features:
- large bipinnately compound leaf
- showy panicles of pink flowers in early spring
- persistent yellow fruit
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