Fruit
The fruit is a smooth (glabrous) olive-like drupe which varies in shape from elongate oval to nearly roundish, and when ripe are 1.4–2.8 centimetres (0.55–1.1 in) by 1.0–1.5 centimetres (0.39–0.59 in). The fruit skin (exocarp) is thin and the bitter-sweet pulp (mesocarp) is yellowish-white and very fibrous. The mesocarp is 0.3–0.5 centimetre (0.12–0.20 in) thick. The white, hard inner shell (endocarp) of the fruit encloses one, rarely two or three, elongated seeds (kernels) having a brown seed coat.
The neem tree is very similar in appearance to its relative, the Chinaberry (Melia azedarach). The Chinaberry tree is toxic to most animals, especially to fish, but birds are known to gorge themselves on the Chinaberries, the seeds passing harmlessly through their unique digestive systems.
Read more about this topic: Azadirachta Indica
Famous quotes containing the word fruit:
“I have never been able to look upon America as young and vital but rather as prematurely old, as a fruit which rotted before it had a chance to ripen.”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“Of a life of luxury the fruit is luxury, whether in agriculture, or commerce, or literature, or art.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“According to the historian, they escaped as by a miracle all roving bands of Indians, and reached their homes in safety, with their trophies, for which the General Court paid them fifty pounds. The family of Hannah Dustan all assembled alive once more, except the infant whose brains were dashed out against the apple tree, and there have been many who in later time have lived to say that they have eaten of the fruit of that apple tree.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)