Chinaberry Melia azedarach
University of Florida, IFAS, Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants	St. Johns River Water Management District

Chinaberry (Melia azedarach) is a fast-growing tree which is naturalized in the southeastern U.S. It is invading the forests, fencelines and disturbed areas of Florida and elsewhere, including Hawaii. Belonging to the mahogany family of plants, chinaberry is native to Asia. Striking and colorful, chinaberry was widely introduced as an ornamental shade tree because of its large compound leaves, its distinctive clusters of lilac-colored flowers and its round yellow fruits. Its seeds are spread by fruit-eating birds.


Although it is revered for its beauty in its native range and is used for its medicinal properties, chinaberry's fast-growth and rapidly spreading thickets make it a significant pest plant in the U.S. (Even so, it continues to be sold through nurseries.) Chinaberry outgrows, shades-out and displaces native vegetation; its bark, leaves and seeds are poisonous to farm and domestic animals. Research shows chinaberry to have insecticidal, anti-viral and possible anti-cancer properties. At least one European company makes flooring from chinaberry wood.


How To Identify Chinaberry




Chinaberry is a deciduous, wide-spreading tree which grows up to 50 feet tall, or it may be shrubby. The tree has a blue-green cast. Chinaberry thrives in a variety of soils, and is cold-hardy and drought-resistant. Its leaves are large (to 2 ft. long) and double-compound (having leaflets on leaflets). The leaves have long stems (petioles). Its leaflets are dark blue-green above, have toothed margins and are pointed. Leaves alternate along the stem. The mildly fragrant chinaberry flowers are small and lilac-colored, with 5 petals surrounding a purple tube. The flowers occur in showy clusters at the ends of branches. Flowering begins in about mid-March (in Florida). Chinaberry fruit are round berries, changing from green to yellow, hanging from long stalks; the fruit eventually becoming brownish leathery seed capsules. The capsules will hang from the tree throughout the leafless winter months. In Florida, the fruit ripen in late summer and early fall.

For more information and pictures about Chinaberry tree, as contained in the Langeland/Burks book, Identification & Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas, download this Acrobat .PDF file.


The UF/IFAS Assessment lists plants according to their invasive status in Florida. View the list here.

Click here to see the herbarium specimen image of the UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA HERBARIUM DIGITAL IMAGING PROJECTS.

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