MAHOGANY 



(Swietenia Mahagoni) 



THIS tree belongs to the family Meliacea which has about forty 

 genera, all of which are confined to the tropic except Swietenia to 

 which niahogany belongs. This tree has made its way up from southern 

 latitudes and has secured a foothold hi Florida where it is confined to the 

 islands and the most southern part of the mainland. 



No attempt is here made to settle or even to take part in the 

 disputes among dendrologists as to what mahogany is. There are said 

 to be more than forty different trees which pass as niahogany in lumber 

 markets. Various descriptions and keys have been published for the 

 purpose of separating and identifying different woods which are bought 

 and sold as mahogany. These woods grow on every continent except 

 Europe ; but those which pass as mahogany nearly all come from Africa 

 or America. Some are well known, both as to origin and botany, while 

 others are doubtful. Logs sometimes appear in markets and no one 

 knows where they come from, or the species which produce them. It has 

 been maintained that annual rings will separate true niahogany from the 

 false that the true has no annual rings. At the best, this evidence is 

 only negative and is worth little, since many tropical trees show no 

 annual rings, and yet are no kin to mahogany. Neither is it certain that 

 true mahogany shows no yearly rings. Some trees do not, but others 

 may. The ring, as is well known, is produced because the tree grows 

 part of the year and rests part. In the tropics where growth is con- 

 tinuous, the ring may not exist, but it sometimes does exist, and thus 

 upsets the theory. Besides, it proves little in the case of mahogany 

 which has a range extending from south of the equator northward into 

 the temperate zone, where there are seasonal changes. It also grows 

 near sea level and at considerable altitudes, and elevation alone might 

 make considerable variation in the character of the wood. 



The two most important mahoganies of commerce leaving botany 

 out of the question grow in Africa and hi America. The most im- 

 portant of the African mahoganies is Kliaya senegalensis, and of the 

 American is Sunentenia mahagoni. It is the latter which extends its 

 range into the United States, and it alone will be considered hi these 

 pages as true mahogany; the status of foreign woods which pass as 

 mahogany will not be discussed. 



Leaves of the mahogany tree are three or four inches long, and an 

 inch or more wide. They are compound, with from three to five pairs of 

 leaflets. The tree is an evergreen and presents a fine appearance. ' The 



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