M. azedarach is a small to medium-sized shrub or tree in the mahogany family (Meliaceae). Branches are stout, with purplish bark dotted with buff-coloured lenticels. Leaves are twice to three-times compound, alternate, and puberulent to glabrous. Leaflets are 2-8cm long, serrate or crenate, dark green above, often with sparse hairs along the veins, and lighter green and generally smooth below. The inflorescence is a panicle from leaf axils and from leafless nodes on the lower part of the new growth. The perfect flowers are 5-parted. Sepals are green, 1.5-2mm long. Petals are pinkish lavender, ligulate, 1-1.3cm long. Stamens are united into a cylindrical, dark purple tube, 6-8mm long, and cut at the apex into 15-25 slender teeth. Each flower has ten anthers. Flowers are fragrant. The fruit is a stalked, one-seeded drupe that is greenish yellow to yellowish tan, globose, and 1-1.5cm in diameter.