Melia azedarach

Leaflets 20 -80 mm long, serrate or crenate.

The Acadian French name for Melia azedarach is "lilas," resulting from the resemblance of its flowers to those of lilac (Holmes 1990). It grows in thickets, floodplain woods, borders of woods, and around old homesteads in Louisiana and east Texas. It is a native of Asia but is believed to have come to the coastal area from Haiti. It has long been cultivated along the gulf coast, reportedly for firewood, and has become naturalized as far north as southeastern Virginia in the United States.

Common in cultivation, naturalized on woodland borders and in disturbed habitats.