A broad-crowned, fast growing deciduous tree to 10 m or so tall, with a robust trunk and pendulous branches. Leaves compound, alternate, usually to about 30 cm long but up to 80 cm. Leaf stalk with swollen base, leaf scars prominent. Leaflets to 6 cm long, stalked, opposite, ovate to elliptic, margins bluntly elliptic, toothed or rarely entire, dark green above, pale beneath. Flowers in clusters 20-25 cm long, smelling of chocolate; late spring to summer. Petals lilac, stamen tube violet. Fruits yellow, fleshy, single-seeded, about 1.5 cm wide, toxic. [M. azedarach var. australasica (A. Juss.) C. DC.]

New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia, New Guinea, south-east and south Asia, China.

Widely grown as a shady street tree and occasionally naturalised in Vic, NSW, Qld, NT and WA.

Sometimes erroneously known as Neem, probably by confusion of the botanical name with the medicinal tropical Indian Neem Tree, Melia azadirachta A. Juss. [Azadirachta indica A. Juss.], which is grown in N Australia and SE Asia as a street and park tree. The root, bark and fruits of White Cedar are also purported to be used to produce medicinal extracts.

Australasian species have been segregated as M. azedarach var. australasica but this variety is currently regarded as an intergrade.

ACT: Griffith (Babbage Crt). VIC: Echuca (High St).

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Meliaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.