Sivietenia mahogoni, 
THE MAHOGANY-TREE. 
Synonymes. 
Swietenia mahogoni, 
Acajou, Mahagon, 
Mahagonyholz, Mahagonybaum, 
Albero di acajou, 
Caoba, 
Pao magno, 
Mahogany-tree, 
LiNNjEtrs, Species Plantarum. 
Woodville, Medical Botany. 
Torrey and Gray, Flora of North America. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Spain and Spanish America. 
Portugal and Brazil. 
Britain and Anglo- America. 
Derivation. The specific name, mahogoni, is derived from the Arrowauk Indian name of this tree, which is variously 
written, as mahogony, mahagon, mahagony, and mahony. 
Engravings. Catesby, Natural History of Carolina, pi. 81 ; Woodville and Hooker, Medical Botany, pi. 220 ; and the figures 
below. 
Specific Characters. Leaves pinnate in 4 pairs. Leaflets ovate lanceolate, equal at the base. Panicles 
axillary. 
Description. 
HE 
Swietenia mahog- 
oni is one of the most 
beautiful among inter- 
tropical trees. Its trunk 
is often forty feet in height, and six feet in diam- 
eter ; and it divides into so many massy arms, 
and throws the shade of its glossy foliage over so 
great an extent of surface, that few more magnifi- 
cent objects are to be met with in the vegetable 
world. Its summit is wide and spreading, sub- 
evergreen, and adorned with abruptly-pinnate, 
shining leaves. The flowers, which are produced 
in handsome spikes not unlike those of the lilac, 
are whitish, sometimes reddish or saffron colour, 
and are succeeded by fruit or capsules of an oval 
form, about the size of a turkey's egg. The fruit 
ripens in early summer, bursts into five parts, 
and discloses its winged seeds, which are soon after dispersed by the winds ; 
some, falling into the crevices of rocks, strike root, then creeping out on the sur- 
face, seek other chinks or crevices, re-enter, and swell to such a size and strength, 
that at length, the rocks are forced asunder, to admit the deeper penetration of 
the roots, and in this manner, in process of time, increase to large trees. 
Geography and History. The mahogany is a native of the warmest parts of 
America, and grows plentifully in Cuba, Jamaica, and Hayti or St. Domingo. 
There are also many trees found on other West India Islands, on the Bahamas, 
and in South Florida. It was formerly very abundant in Jamaica, but the best 
trees are mostly cut down in all accessible situations ; and the same thing holds 
good in the other islands. The principal importations into Europe and the 
United States are made from Brazil, Campeachy, and Honduras. That which 
is brought from the islands is usually called Spa?iish mahogany, but it is not 
