Abstract. In Egypt there are two different species that are commercially
marketed under the same trade name of Neem: one is
Azadirachta indica A. Juss., and the other is Melia azedarach L. In
this paper, leaf morphological characters (e.g., lamina architecture,
stomatography, petiole and blade micromorphology) of both taxa
were described and illustrated to aid in the identification and differentiation
between the two misidentified taxa. The obtained results
concluded that leaf morpho-anatomical characters will not only provide
criteria for their correct taxonomic authentication, but would
also serve as future standard data for the quality assessment of the
pharmaceutical preparation of botanical drug