Meliaceae

Template:Short description Template:Automatic taxobox Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs (and a few herbaceous plants, mangroves) in the order Sapindales.

They are characterised by alternate, usually pinnate leaves without stipules, and by syncarpous,<ref>Of a gynoecium, made up of united carpels</ref> apparently bisexual (but actually mostly cryptically unisexual) flowers borne in panicles, cymes, spikes or clusters. Most species are evergreen, but some are deciduous, either in the dry season or in winter.

The family includes about 53 genera and about 600 known species,<ref name="Christenhusz-Byng2016">Template:Cite journal</ref> with a pantropical distribution; one genus (Toona) extends north into temperate China and south into southeast Australia, another (Synoum) into southeast Australia, and another (Melia) nearly as far north. They most commonly grow as understory trees in rainforests, but are also found in mangroves and arid regions.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The fossil record of the family extends back into the Late Cretaceous.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

File:Fruits of Chisocheton paniculatus.JPG

Fruits of Chisocheton cumingianus

Uses

Template:Citation needed section Various species are used for vegetable oil, soap-making, insecticides, and highly prized wood (mahogany).

Some economically important genera and species belong to this family:

Azadirachta indica, neem tree (India)
Carapa: includes the "crabwood trees" e.g. Carapa procera (South America and Africa)
Cedrela odorata Central and South America; timber also known as Spanish-cedar
Entandrophragma: includes sapele (Entandrophragma cylindricum), and "utile" or "sipo" (E. utile) of tropical Africa
Guarea, the genus of Bossé or "pink mahogany", includes: G. thompsonii and G. cedrata (Africa)
Khaya includes: Ivory Coast Mahogany and Senegal Mahogany (tropical Africa)
Lansium domesticum, lanzones, grown for its edible fruit in Southeast Asia
Melia azedarach, Chinaberry or white cedar (Indomalaya and Australasia)
Sandoricum koetjape, santol, grown for its edible fruit in Southeast Asia and South Asia
Swietenia is the classic "mahogany" genus from the tropical Americas
Toona: the genus of "toon tree" species (tropical Asia, Malesia, and Australia), especially Toona ciliata

Genera

Template:More citations needed section 58 genera are currently accepted.<ref name = powo>Meliaceae Juss. Template:Webarchive Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 9 February 2024.</ref>

File:Aglaiaodorata1web.jpg

Chinese rice flower (Aglaia odorata)

The family is divided into two subfamilies, Cedreloideae and Melioideae, which are supported by phylogenetic evidence.<ref name = Holzmeyer>Holzmeyer, L., Hauenschild, F., Mabberley, D.J. and Muellner-Riehl, A.N. (2021), Confirmed polyphyly, generic recircumscription and typification of Dysoxylum (Meliaceae), with revised disposition of currently accepted species. Taxon, 70: 1248-1272. https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.12591</ref>