Saturday, March 11, 2006

Azadirachta indica (Neem Tree)

The first time I heard about this tree was from a friend who told us about a kind of tea he was introduced to that came from the leaves of this tree and that it came from Burma. The second time was when I read about in the book "Trees of our Garden City". I learned that there is also a Giant Neem Tree called Sentang in Malay and this tree could grow up to 50 metres in height. It is believed have medicinal value and is also used for making furniture. When I went to India last year I saw giant neem trees by the roadside. In contrast there is a slender tree in a friend's garden that never seems to 'put on weight' although it keep growing taller and taller. One day, it flowered and here is the evidence of that flowering:

Common Name: Neem Tree or Nim Tree
Origin: India and Java

2 comments:

TH said...

Hi, where do your friend obtain the neem tree?

Mableinsingapore said...

Hith, I'm not sure but I think it should not be difficult to obtain. I think those run by the National Parks Board should have saplings for sale. Perhaps you can check it out with the NPB. Thanks for your comment.