Family Meliaceae (order Sapindales), composed of 575 species in 51 genera of trees and (rarely) shrubs native to tropical and subtropical regions.
Trees of the genus Swietenia and Entandrophragma , commonly called mahogany, and of the genus Cedrela (especially the cigar-box cedar, C. odorata ) are economically important timber trees. The China tree ( Melia azedarach ), also called chinaberry, bead tree, and Persian lilac, is an ornamental Asian tree with fragrant, lilac-coloured flowers and attractive but poisonous round yellow fruits, often cultivated in tropical and warm temperate areas. Most members of the family have large compound leaves and branched flower clusters. A few have edible fruits.