Melia azedarach L., 1753

Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part M), Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London: Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum, pp. 651-689 : 663

Melia azedarach Linnaeus , Species Plantarum 1: 384. 1753 .

"Habitat in Syria." RCN: 3031.

Lectotype (Abdulla in Nasir & Ali, Fl. W. Pakistan 17: 8. 1972): Herb. Hermann 1: 10, No. 162 (BM-000621259) .

Generitype of Melia Linnaeus (vide Hitchcock, Prop. Brit. Bot.: 153. 1929).

Current name: Melia azedarach L. ( Meliaceae ).

Note: Mabberley (in Gard. Bull. Singapore 37: 63-64. 1984) provided a detailed account of the history of this taxon and its many cultivars, concluding that its type should be a Clifford sheet. However, this choice is pre-dated by that of Abdulla (and followed by several later authors), who chose Hermann material from Sri Lanka as the type. Despite some confusion over the geographical provenance (Syria vs. Ceylon) of M. azedarach and its var. sempervirens by Linnaeus, his diagnosis for the species name is firmly linked with the Flora Zeylanica account, and there seem to be no grounds for rejecting Abdulla’s choice. There appear to be no nomenclatural implications at species rank.