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:
““You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance.””
—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 3:7-8.
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but violence takes lives away.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Proverbs 11:30.
“Whenever, at a party, I have been in the mood to study fools, I have always looked for a great beauty: they always gather round her like flies around a fruit stall.”
—Jean Paul Richter (1763–1825)