Species
+

Azadirachta indica A.Juss.

150 maladies, Aryaveppu, Indian lilac, Indian-lilac

Climate known 55 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Azadirachta indica, commonly known as neem, margosa, nimtree or Indian lilac, is a tree in the Mahogany family Meliaceae. It is one of the two species in the genus Azadirachta. It is native to the Indian subcontinent and to parts of Southeast Asia, but is naturalized and grown around the world in tropical and subtropical areas. Its fruits and seeds are the source of neem oil. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Azadirachta indica”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Azadirachta

Azadirachta is a genus of two species of trees in the mahogany family Meliaceae. Numerous species have been proposed for the genus but only two are currently recognized, Azadirachta excelsa and the economically important tree Azadirachta indica, the neem tree, from which neem oil is extracted. Both species are native to the Indomalaysian region, and A. indica is also widely cultivated and naturalized outside its native range.

Text from Wikipedia, “Azadirachta”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Meliaceae
Described by
A.Juss.
Native to
Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia +4
Wild records
30 in range· 18 open

At a glance

Warmest month
34°C
Apr, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1814mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Jul 355 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–41DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1814 mm a year, wettest July at 355 mm, driest December at 11 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 10.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Antelaea azadirachta (L.) Adelb.; Antelaea canescens Cels; Antelaea canescens Cels ex Heynh.; Antelaea javanica Gaertn.; Azadirachta indica subsp. vartakii Kothari, Londhe & N.P.Singh and 11 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1282 mm of 1814 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 28.3 °C against a yearly mean of 26.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1814 mm a year, wettest July at 355 mm, driest December at 11 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1814 mm a year at the habitat, 1282 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 355 mm, driest December at 11 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1239 mm to 2472 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 10.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 10.3 °C, the absolute minimum 7.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 16.8 °C in January (across the envelope cells 12.8 °C to 21.4 °C), warmest day 33.6 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 10.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, without lapse correction; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 26 °C in Dec to 34 °C in Apr; mean night from 17 °C in Jan to 26 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1814 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 26 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 7.4 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°38.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)7.4° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 27–41RH 54–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 26 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 24–3128 / 26–3233 / 28–3434 / 29–3533 / 29–3531 / 29–3331 / 29–3231 / 28–3130 / 28–3130 / 28–3029 / 27–3026 / 25–30
Night °C17 / 13–2119 / 16–2322 / 20–2525 / 23–2726 / 24–2726 / 24–2725 / 24–2625 / 24–2625 / 23–2623 / 21–2520 / 18–2317 / 14–22
Rain mm15 / 5–2122 / 9–2939 / 31–7477 / 52–125163 / 137–342282 / 139–424355 / 141–419343 / 181–418302 / 214–365164 / 133–27441 / 21–18111 / 4–62
DLI32 / 29–3435 / 33–3839 / 38–4241 / 38–4236 / 32–3930 / 27–3428 / 25–3327 / 26–3128 / 26–3129 / 28–3029 / 27–3128 / 27–32
RH %55 / 52–5956 / 53–6157 / 54–6361 / 58–6563 / 62–6866 / 63–6868 / 64–6968 / 65–6968 / 66–7063 / 61–6858 / 54–6454 / 51–60

Each figure is the median across the 26 grid cells holding the 30 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1364:5364 (21.775, 88.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 7.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 10.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 26 distinct grid cells holding the 30 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1364:5364 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 22.00_88.125, no lapse correction (POWER gave no cell elevation). Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 3 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAssam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam· introduced: Burkina, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Togo, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Rwanda, Chad, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mauritius, Réunion, Iran, Lebanon-Syria, Gulf States, Oman, East Himalaya, India, Laccadive Is., Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Sumatera, Hawaii, Mexico Northwest, El Salvador, Aruba, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Ecuador
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker22.36, 88.24 · in the densest population, 12 records (40% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 30 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 18 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 31 km away. 1359 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 30 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Azadirachta indicaAzadirachta indicaAzadirachta indicaAzadirachta indicaAzadirachta indicaAzadirachta indicaAzadirachta indicaAzadirachta indica

Photographs: (c) Yoav Daniel Bar-Ness, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6); (c) renjus box, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Azadirachta indica, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

A review on plants extract mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles for antimicrobial applications: A green expertise
Shakeel Ahmed, Mudasir Ahmad, Babu Lal Swami, Saiqa Ikram (2015) · Journal of Advanced Research
‘Green’ synthesis of metals and their oxide nanoparticles: applications for environmental remediation
Jagpreet Singh, Tanushree Dutta, Ki‐Hyun Kim, Mohit Rawat (2018) · Journal of Nanobiotechnology
Rapid synthesis of Au, Ag, and bimetallic Au core–Ag shell nanoparticles using Neem (Azadirachta indica) leaf broth
S. Shiv Shankar, Akhilesh Rai, Absar Ahmad, Murali Sastry (2004) · Journal of Colloid and Interface Science
International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research
A Antonyan, Svetlana Sharoyan, H. Harutyunyan, Luciano Barboni (2025) · International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research
Purposive Sampling as a Tool for Informant Selection
Ma. Dolores C. Tongco (2007) · Ethnobotany Research and Applications
Influence of abiotic stress signals on secondary metabolites in plants
Akula Ramakrishna, G. A. Ravishankar (2011) · Plant Signaling & Behavior
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and organ damage: A current perspective
Samik Bindu, Somnath Mazumder, Uday Bandyopadhyay (2020) · Biochemical Pharmacology
The Pharmacological Potential of Rutin
Aditya Ganeshpurkar, A. K. Saluja (2016) · Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal
Metabolic Syndrome: Updates on Pathophysiology and Management in 2021
Gracia Fahed, Laurence Aoun, Morgan Bou Zerdan, Sabine Allam (2022) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Role of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria in Agricultural Sustainability—A Review
Pravin Vejan, Rosazlin Abdullah, Tumirah Khadiran, Salmah Ismail (2016) · Molecules

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 98 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.