Bark
Young branches are grayish brown, ribbed, and covered with yellow velvety hairs and sparse grayish white lenticels.
Cipadessa baccifera
Syn. Melia baccifera
IUCN Red List
Least Concern
(LC)
Local name
- Oriental Purpleberry (English)
- Nalbila (Hindi)
Shrub type
Evergreen
Deciduous
Family: Meliaceae
4m
Indicated uses
Medicinal
Edible
Ornamental
Avenue
Other
Flowering & fruiting
Flowering
Fruiting
Key characters
Leaves
Leaves are compound, 8-30 cm long, with leaf-stalk and spine either hairless or yellow velvety. Leaflets are usually 9-13, opposite, ovate to ovoid-oblong, 3.5-10 × 1.5-5 cm.
Flower
Flowers are borne in clusters 8-15 cm long. Flowers are white, 3-4 mm in diameter. Flower stalks are 1-1.5 mm long.
Fruit / Seeds
Fruit is purple to black when mature, round, 4-5 mm in diameter.
Did you know?
It is a monotypic genus, containing only one recognized species. This gives the genus a distinctive place in botanical classification. In parts of southern India, the leaves have been used in traditional medicine for snakebite, including bites from venomous snakes.
Distribution
Indian Subcontinent to S. China and W. & Central Malesia