i8 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



northern limit of distribution on the keys of southern Florida. The 

 name of the genus is in honor of Baron Gerard von Swieten, a distin- 

 guished Dutch physician and botanist of the i8th century. 



310. SWIETENIA MAHAGONI JACQ. 



MAHOGANY. MADEIRA-WOOD. 



Ger., Mqhoganihols. Fr., Acajou, Mahogon (Fr. W. L). 



Sp., Caoba, Caobo. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS : Leaves presistent, 6 to 10 in. long, with 3-5 pairs of 

 lance-ovate leathery leaflets which are 2 to 4 in. long, cuneate and very oblique 

 at base, acuminate, entire, shining dark green above, paler and somewhat rufous 

 and with prominent reticulate veins beneath, petiolules about % in. long. Flozvers, 

 in mid-summer, about y$ in. across, in racemes 3-6 in. long, with slender pedicels 

 bibracteolate near the middle ; calyx cup-shaped, glabrous ; petals about l /$ in. 

 long, white, obovate-oblong, rounded or notched at apex. Fruit, ripening in late 

 autumn, a 5-celled ovoid to oblong capsule, 3 to 5 in. long, with rough brown 

 surface when ripe and dehiscent by 5 thick valves from the vase; seeds about 

 i in. long, brown with thin membranous wing ribbed on one side and with hilum 

 at the tip. 



The Mahogany is a noble tree in stature, as well as in the excellence 

 of its wood. Early writers tell of great wide-spreading trees with 

 huge wide-buttressed trunks 10 or 12 ft. (3.50111.) in diameter, and 40 

 or 50 ft. (i5m.) in length, with massive spreading branches, but such 

 grand specimens are not now found in Florida. It is still a beautiful 

 and stately tree there, however, with its cl'ean glossy foliage and trunk 

 seldom now found thicker than 2 or 3 ft. (0.90111. ). This is covered 

 with a rough dark reddish brown bark, fissured into rather narrow 

 scaly ridges very much resembling the bark of the Hemlock tree of 

 the Northern States. 



HABITAT. Extreme southern Florida and the southern keys, the 

 Bahamas, many of the. West Indies, Mexico and Central and South 

 America as far south as northern Brazil and Peru. It is hardy (within 

 the tropics), growing in all kinds of soil, or even the most meagre soil 

 among rocks, the slow growing trees producing the richer and more 

 highly valu'ed wood. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood heavy, hard, strong, of close grain, 

 compact, very durable, with many fine medullary rays, susceptible of a 



