Talk:Melia azedarach

Toxicity
Claim about toxicity removed, unsubstantiated. I got a bit suspicious after my 17 month old son ate some unripe berries and suffered no ill effects. EKhayaICT (talk) 18:08, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
 * The species contains several toxic sesquiterpenes and can hardly be considered as unsubstantiated as there are more than 20 publications on the subject. Extracts of this species and its relatives have a long standing tradition of use as insecticides and traditional medicines. The fact that your son didn't suffer any ill effects are anecdotal however... 81.224.47.12 (talk) 10:22, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

I also wonder about toxicity and have noticed that cattle eat the seed and seedling with relish. In pastures, only the large trees survive.

neem
isnt this just the old name for neem? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Superruss (talk • contribs) 13:29, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
 * No, the pictures from the Neem page don't match up with the trees I've worked with. It just looks like a related species. –Visionholder (talk) 05:32, 22 August 2009 (UTC)
 * There are probably several speceis treated as "neem" - among them both Melia azedarach and Azadirachta indica of the Meliaceae family. In my opinion the wikipedia redirect of Melia azadirachta adds to this confusion. 81.224.47.12 (talk) 10:22, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Odor of the Berries
Shouldn't their be a mention of the unique foul odor the berries have? They really stink. 24.155.22.84 (talk) 07:54, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Synonyms
A major revision of the various pages about this genus and species is clearly needed. One component is that the synonym list for this species seems to need updating, and there is a list of synonyms at The Plant List. However, it seems premature to make these revisions because that list has many entries with low-confidence indicators, and it doesn't appear to have completely incorporated David Mabberley's 1984 monograph that is cited on this page. Work for the future ... Sminthopsis84 (talk) 13:44, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Predators...
Where are they? In particular, that dreadful hairy caterpillar which plagues (praise be to your favourite deity!!) the trees annually. Unfortunately, that caterpillar/moth itself has no predators in Australia, but has no mortal effect on the tree. Very much a Cane-Toad thing. 121.44.165.190 (talk) 10:33, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

Recognition....
How can you recognise this tree from other trees that look similar and/or from within the same genus? This would be a cool sub-header to add.

Uses
There are two "Uses" sections in the article, and they repeat some of the same information. I should add that the wood is useless for firewood and especially for cooking, because it smells like burning plastic. Wastrel Way (talk) 22:42, 27 March 2024 (UTC)Eric