''Azadirachta'' is a genus of two species of trees in the family

Meliaceae Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs (and a few herbaceous plants, mangroves) in the order Sapindales. They are characterised by alternate, usually pinnate leaves without stipules, and by syncar ...

. Numerous species have been proposed for the genus but only two are currently recognized, ''

Azadirachta excelsa ''Azadirachta excelsa'', commonly known as sentang, is a tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae. The specific epithet ' is from the Latin meaning "lofty". Description ''Azadirachta excelsa'' grows up to tall with a trunk diameter of up to . Its ...

'' and the economically important tree ''

Azadirachta indica ''Azadirachta indica'', commonly known as neem, nimtree or Indian lilac, is a tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae. It is one of two species in the genus ''Azadirachta'', and is native to the Indian subcontinent and most of the countries in Afr ...

'', the

Neem ''Azadirachta indica'', commonly known as neem, nimtree or Indian lilac, is a tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae. It is one of two species in the genus '' Azadirachta'', and is native to the Indian subcontinent and most of the countries in Afr ...

tree, from which

neem oil Neem oil, also known as margosa oil, is a vegetable oil pressed from the fruits and seeds of the neem (''Azadirachta indica''), a tree which is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and has been introduced to many other areas in the tropics. It i ...

is extracted. Both species are native to the Indomalaysian region, and ''A. indica'' is also widely cultivated and naturalized outside its native range. In traditional medicine in India, the resin from the trees have been attributed with medical benefits. A component in the resin is an effective insecticide; see

azadirachtin Azadirachtin, a chemical compound belonging to the limonoid group, is a secondary metabolite present in neem seeds. It is a highly oxidized tetranortriterpenoid which boasts a plethora of oxygen-bearing functional groups, including an enol ether, ...

. Another component is an effective anti-fungal; see ''

''. These species should not be confused with ''

Melia azedarach ''Melia azedarach'', commonly known as the chinaberry tree, pride of India, bead-tree, Cape lilac, syringa berrytree, Persian lilac, Indian lilac, or white cedar, is a species of deciduous tree in the mahogany family, Meliaceae, that is native ...

'', which is a tree in a different genus of the mahogany family.

References

* Mabberley, D. J. et al. 1995. ''Azadirachta'', pp. 337–343. In: ''Flora Malesiana'' ser. 1 Spermatophyta 12(1): 1–407. * Meliaceae genera {{Meliaceae-stub