ee 
A VERY large tree, which, by fending off numerous fpreading 
branches, makes a beautiful appearance. Wood hard, compaét, of a 
brownifh red, and from its general ufe well known in England. 
The bark is rough, {caly, and brown, but upon the young branches 
grey, and much fmoother. Leaves pinnated, alternate, confifting of 
three, four, or five pairs of pinnule, which are entire, ovately 
lance-fhaped, acute, oblique, reclining, on fhort footftalks. Flowers 
numerous, {mall, whitifh, in axillary open fpikes. Calyx {mall, 
bell-fhaped, deciduous, cut into five fegments. Petals five, inverfely 
ovate, concave, obtufe, {preading. Nectarium monophyllous, cylin- 
drical, ere&t, of the length of the corolla, divided at the brim into ten 
pointed teeth. Filaments ten, {carcely vifible, inferted beneath the teeth 
of the neCtarium. Anthere oblong, ere&t. German ovate. Style taper- 
ing, ere, of the length of the ne¢tarium. Stigma large, deprefled at 
the top. Capfule ovate, large, abtufe, five-celled, frve-valved; valves 
woody, thick, opening at the bafe. Seeds numerous, compreffed, 
imbricated, furnifhed with oblong membranous wings. Receptacle 
of the feed large, oblong, obtufe, pentagonal. | 
It is a native of the Weft Indies, and was firft cultivated in Eng- 
land in 1739 by Mr. P. Miller, who then confidered it asa f{pecies of 
Cedrus; but Jacquin difcovered the Mahogany to be a diftin@ genus, 
and called it Swietenia, in honour of Gerard L. B. a Swieten, whofe 
influence with the Houfe of Auftria caufed the botanic garden at 
Vienna to be founded. - 
For the botanical fpecimen of the tree figured in the annexed 
plate, we are obliged to Sir Jofeph Banks. 
The bark of the Swietenia has lately been found, in a con- 
fiderable degree, to emulate that of the cinchona in its medicinal 
characters ; we have therefore followed the late profeflor Murray in 
confidering it as-an article of the Materia Medica. : 
This bark, according to Dr. Wright, is “ rough, fcaly, and brown,” 
as found upon the trunk of a tree, but “ that on the boughs and 
twigs is grey and {moother.”* That intended for medicinal ufe fhould 
be the growth of the trunk, or rather of the larger branches, and is ~ 
brought here in flattith or fomewhat convex pieces, about a foot in 
* See London Medical Journal, vol. 8. p. 286 
length : 
