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The recent spread of the invasive woody alien plant Melia azedarach  507

              tiveness of the invasive process achieved by M. azedarach is strongly influ-
              enced by the abundance and the variety of disseminators which feed on its
              fleshy drupes, i.e. small mammals for short distances, or birds and bats for
              longer distances (BATCHER, 2000; VOIGT et al., 2011). Thank to its ability to
              re-sprout both from damaged stumps and roots, M. azedarach is able to form
              dense and extensive clonal stands in very short times, thus preventing the
              entry of native woody species (LANGELAND & BURKS, 1998; TOURN et al.,
              1999), and making difficult its mechanical control (BATCHER, 2000). Due to
              its invasive behavior, M. azedarach has been included in the Global Invasive
              Species Database (GISD, 2006), managed by the group of specialists working
              within the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the International Union for
              Conservation  of  Nature  (IUCN).  In  its  secondary  distribution  range,  M.
              azedarach has successfully invaded both open natural habitats like S African
              savannahs, the Pampas of Argentina and disturbed environments, such as
              roadsides, but also riparian and forest ecosystems subject to anthropogenic
              disturbance  (LANGELAND &  BURKS,  1998;  HOOD &  NAIMAN,  2000;  VAN
              WILGEN et al., 2001; GHERSA et al., 2002; HENDERSON, 2007). Especially in S
              Africa, the widespread occurrence of this Asian tree has reached particularly
              worrying dimensions, so that huge costs will have to be incurred in order to
              contain its rising spread and the negative ecological impacts (MARAIS et al.,
              2004; HENDERSON, 2007). In U.S.A., M. azedarach has been recently listed
              among the 14 non-native target species for which the development of focused
              programs of biological control exploiting the numerous phytophagous ene-
              mies which live in its native range is regarded as a priority (DING et al., 2006).




              MELIA AZEDARACH IN EUROPE AND IN ITALY
                  Naturalized  in  France  and  former  Yugoslavia  since  half  a  century
              (TUTIN, 1968), more recently M. azedarach also spread in Iberian Peninsula
              (NAVARRO ARANDA & MUÑOZ GARMENDIA, 2008), on Canarian islands and
              Croatia as well as in other Mediterranean countries such as Balearic islands,
              Cyprus,  Israel,  Jordan  and  Malta,  while  its  status  is  doubtful  in  Anatolia
              (Turkey) and Crete (JURY, 2009).
                  After boiling the fruits, the seeds of Persian lilac, which bear a natural
              perforation through the centre, were used to make rosaries. Although this
              popular use is disappearing, in Italy M. azedarach is still called “albero dei
              rosari” or “albero dei paternostri”. Despite being included since long time in
              the category of naturalized plants (BÉGUINOT & MAZZA, 1916; VIEGI et al.,
              1974), PIGNATTI (1982)  treated  it  only  as  a  casual.  Moreover,  CELESTI-
              GRAPOW et al. (2010) report it as fully naturalized for Sicily only and as a ca-
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