Azadirachta indica A.Juss., Meliaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results: 

Hawai‘i/Pacific:  High risk, score: 10 (updated 2 July 2009) (Go to the risk assessment)
Risk assessment from the Government of Queensland, Australia (PDF format).

Other Latin names:  Antelaea azadirachta (L.) Adelbert

Common name(s): [more details]

English: Indian lilac, margosa, neem, nim

French: azadirac d'Inde, margosier, margousier

Habit:  tree

Description:  "A large tree.  Leaves 20-30 cm long, crowded near the ends of the branches, pinnate.  Leaflets 10-12, 7 X 2.5 cm, serrate.  Flowers white, scented.  Anthers 10.  Ovary 3-celled.  Drupes ovoid-oblong, smooth, yellow when ripe."  (Maheshwari, 1963; p. 99)

"A large glabrous evergreen tree, heartwood red, hard.  Leaflets 7-9 pair, often alternate, obliquely falcate-lanceolate, serrate, the odd one often wanting.  Flowers white, strongly honey-scented, pentamerous, in axillary panicles shorter than leaf.  Staminal tube 10-dentate, anthers inserted within the tube opposite its teeth.  Drupe the size of an olive, yellow, afterwards purple, kernel cartilaginous, 1-celled, 1-seeded, cotyledons plane-convex, fleshy, notched at base"  (Brandis, 1907; p. 139).

Habitat/ecology:  Commonly cultivated in semi-arid to wet tropical and subtropical regions.  Can grow on dry, infertile sites but grows best when it has adequate water.  In Fiji, "cultivated and sparingly naturalized at low elevations"  (Smith, 1985; p. 530).

Propagation:  Seed, fruits distributed by birds and bats. May sucker from the roots. Can also reproduce from cuttings.

Native range:  India into Malesia as far as Java (Smith, 1985; p. 530).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
American Samoa Tutuila Islands	Tutuila Island	introduced cultivated	Space, James C./Flynn, Tim (2000) (p. 32)
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Rarotonga Island		Sykes, Bill (year unknown)
Federated States of Micronesia Pohnpei Islands	Pohnpei Island	introduced cultivated	Herrera, Katherine/Lorence, David H./Flynn, Timothy/Balick, Michael J. (2010) (p. 112)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1985) (p. 530) Vouchers cited: DA 11757, DA 7250, DA 18850, DA 2064
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island		Bishop Museum (Honolulu) (1959) (voucher ID: BISH 15188) Taxon name on voucher: Azadirachta indica A.Juss.
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island		Bishop Museum (Honolulu) (1976) (voucher ID: BISH 417165) Taxon name on voucher: Azadirachta indica A.Juss.
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Raulerson, L. (2006) (p. 40)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced cultivated	Imada, Clyde T./Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral R. (2011) (p. Voucher specimen) Vouchers cited: T. Flynn 3091 (BISH 560018), C. Imada 2001-72 (BISH 683552)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Lau, Alex/Frohlich, Danielle (2012) (p. 19) Voucher cited: OED 2009021302 (BISH)
Marshall Islands Ratak Chain	Majuro (Mãjro) Atoll	introduced cultivated	Vander Velde, Nancy (2003) (p. 107) Rare.
Marshall Islands Ratak Chain	Wotje (Wõjjã) Atoll		National Tropical Botanical Garden (U.S.A. Hawaii. Kalaheo.) (2009) (voucher ID: PTBG 49745) Taxon name on voucher: Azadirachta indica
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 100) Vouchers cited: MacKee 34891, MacKee 42476
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)		Waterhouse, Barbara (year unknown)
Wallis and Futuna Wallis and Futuna (Horne) Islands	Wallis (‘Uvea) Island	introduced cultivated	Meyer, Jean-Yves (2007) (p. 28)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Northern Territory	introduced cultivated	Csurhes, S./Edwards, R. (1998) (p. 144)
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland	introduced cultivated	Csurhes, S./Edwards, R. (1998) (p. 144)
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	possibly introduced cultivated	Hanum/I. Faridah/Van der Maesen, L.J.G, eds. (1997) (p. 72)
Malaysia Malaysia	Malaysia (country of)	possibly introduced cultivated	Hanum/I. Faridah/Van der Maesen, L.J.G, eds. (1997) (p. 72)
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced invasive	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 17) Casual
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)	possibly introduced cultivated	Hanum/I. Faridah/Van der Maesen, L.J.G, eds. (1997) (p. 72)

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Maldives Maldive Islands	Malè Atoll	cultivated	Fosberg, F. R. (1957) (p. 23) Voucher cited: Fosberg 36908 (US)
Mauritius Mautitius Islands (Mauritius and Rodrigues)	Mauritius Island	introduced invasive	Csurhes, S./Edwards, R. (1998) (p. 144)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	Hanum/I. Faridah/Van der Maesen, L.J.G, eds. (1997) (p. 72)

Comments:  Some naturalizing occurring on the Cape York, Peninsula, Queensland, Australia (Barbara Waterhouse, pers. com.).

Additional information:
Information from the World Agroforestry Centre's AgroForestryTree Database.
Information from the USDA Tropical Tree Seed Manual (PDF Format).
Information from the ASEAN Tropical Plant Database.

Additional online information about Azadirachta indica is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Azadirachta indica as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Azadirachta indica may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Bishop Museum (Honolulu). 1959. Voucher specimen #BISH 15188 (Koroiveibau, D. 11757).

Bishop Museum (Honolulu). 1976. Voucher specimen #BISH 417165 (Vodonaivalu, S. 18850).

Brandis, D. 1907. Indian trees. Archibald Constable & Co., London. p. 139.

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.

Csurhes, S./Edwards, R. 1998. Potential environmental weeds in Australia: Candidate species for preventative control. Canberra, Australia. Biodiversity Group, Environment Australia. 208 pp.

Fosberg, F. R. 1957. The Maldive Islands, Indian Ocean. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 58. Pacific Science Board, National Academy of Sciences, Washington. 37 pp.

Hanum/I. Faridah/Van der Maesen, L.J.G, eds. 1997. PROSEA : Plant resources of south-east Asia 11, auxiliary plants. LIPI Press, Jakarta, Indonesia. 385 pp. ISBN 979-799-093-1.

Herrera, Katherine/Lorence, David H./Flynn, Timothy/Balick, Michael J. 2010. Checklist of the vascular plants of Pohnpei with local names and uses. Allertonia, in press. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Hawai‘i. 146 pp.

Imada, Clyde T./Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral R. 2011. Annotated Checklist of Cultivated Plants of Hawai‘i (online searchable database).

Lau, Alex/Frohlich, Danielle. 2012. New plant records from O‘ahu for 2009. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2011. Part II: Plants. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 113:7-26.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Maheshware, J. K. 1963. The flora of Delhi. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi.

Meyer, Jean-Yves. 2007. Rapport de mission sur l'Ile d'Uvea (Wallis & Futuna) du 6 au 17 Novembre 2007: Inventaire preliminaire de la flore vasculaire secondaire [unpublished report]. Délégation à la Recherche, Ministère de l'Education, l'Enseignement Supérieur et la Recherche, B.P. 20981 Papeete, Tahiti, Polynésie française. 39 pp.

Raulerson, L. 2006. Checklist of Plants of the Mariana Islands. University of Guam Herbarium Contribution 37:1-69. .

Smith, Albert C. 1985. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 3. 758 pp.

Space, James C./Flynn, Tim. 2000. Observations on invasive plant species in American Samoa.  USDA Forest Service, Honolulu. 51 pp.

Sykes, Bill. 0. Bill Sykes, pers. com.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Vander Velde, Nancy. 2003. The vascular plants of Majuro Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. Smithsonian Institution, Atoll Research Bulletin No. 503:1-141.

Waterhouse, Barbara. 0. Barbara Waterhouse, pers. com.