CABI - Melia azedarach (Chinaberry)

The natural distribution of M. azedarach is uncertain but is thought to be native to Asia probably from Baluchistan, (Pakistan) and Kashmir (India and Pakistan) (Troup, 1921; National Academy of Sciences, 1983), but has long been cultivated throughout the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and China. Mabberley et al. (1995) reports the distribution of 'wild trees' from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and tropical China, south and east through Malesia: Sumatra, Java, Philippines (Luzon, Negros, Mindanao), the Lesser Sunda Islands (Flores, Timor, Wetar), Papua Barat and Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Solomon Islands. It is widely scattered in China, through Malesia to the Solomon Islands and Australia (Ahmed and Idris, 1997). In Australia it extends from northern Queensland to southern New South Wales, usually within 100 km of the coastline (Doran and Turnbull, 1997), and it also occurs in the Kimberley region in northern Western Australia (Wheeler et al., 1992), northern areas of the Northern Territory and the Gulf of Carpentaria in northwestern Queensland. The latitudinal range covering both natural and naturalized populations is from approximately 35°N-35°S indicating a purely tropical distribution.