Region: Borneo, Philippines, south to Fiji.
Habitat: forests and swamps; sea-level to 950 metres altitude.
Synonym: Astorganthus; Boninia; Entoganum; Evodiella; Lepta; Pelea; Platydesma, Tractocopevodia.
Name: Melicope is derived from Greek words meli, meaning honey, and kope, meaning division, referring to the glands at the base of the ovary.
Genus: ± 230 species.
Ecology: Melicopes are foodplants for animals, mainly invertebrates, caterpillars of Papilio ulysses, Thyrocopa moths, Proterhinus; nectar of wharangi, Melicope ternata has toxic honey that may kill whoever eats it.
BotanyShrubs and trees; dioecious; up to 25 metres tall.
Region: tropical Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Pacific Ocean.
Leaves: simple or trifoliate leaves; opposite, or whorled.
Inflorescence: panicles.
Flowers: bisexual or sometimes unisexual; sepals, 4; petals 4; stamens 4 to 8; carpels 4 to 5, fused at the base with fused styles; stigma similar to the tip of the style.
Fruit: has four follicles, fused at the base, each with one or two seeds.
TaxonomyTakhtajan system placed Melicope in the subfamily Rutoideae, tribe Zanthoxyleae.
Evidence from 2009 indicates that the related genus Platydesma of four species is nested within the genus Melicope and is sister to all Hawaiian Melicope species. Melicope species are dioecious, Platydesma are hermaphroditic. Molecular phylogenetic analyses also suggest that the genera Comptonella, Dutaillyea, Picrella, and possibly Dutailliopsis, all from New Caledonia, are also nested in Melicope.