CHAPTER XLIV: THE MAHOGANY AND THE 

 GUMBO LIMBO 



I. Family Meliace^ 



The Mahogany (Swtetenta Mahogani, Jacq.) is the true 

 mahogany whose heavy, brownish-red wood is so highly valued 

 by the makers of elegant furniture. In Central America and in 

 the West Indies it grows to great size, and is remarkable in having 

 huge buttresses extending out from the base of its lofty trunk. 

 In the Florida Keys it attains but medium size, and the greed 

 of lumbermen usually sacrifices the half-grown trees. It is 

 known as "Madeira," and is used in boat building. 



Nurserymen in Florida and southern California offer small 

 mahogany trees for ornamental planting. The potted specimens 

 bloom when quite young. The tree has graceful, slender branches, 

 delicate, shiny, ash-like leaves, and light sprays of tiny white 

 flowers. The fruits are heavy, brown, 4-valved capsules as large 

 as lemons and full of winged seeds. 



The wood, beside being beautiful in colour and in pattern 

 of grain, becomes richer in tone with age, and seems impervious 

 to decay. The finest grades of this wood grow on upland lime- 

 stone soil. The Florida trees do not furnish this first-grade 

 lumber. 



The China Berry, Chinese Umbrella Tree, or Pride of 

 India {Melia A^ederach, Linn.), is a relative of the mahogany. 

 It came from China into European and American gardens long 

 ago. It grows easily from seed, and rapidly becomes a most 

 admirable shade tree. In April it bears a profusion of fragrant, 

 lilac-coloured flowers, succeeded by yellowish berries. The 

 leaves are bright and luxuriant, and remain so until late in the 

 autumn, when they are gradually shed. 



The variety umhraculiformis is the one most commonly 

 planted. It is known as the Texas umbrella tree. The only 

 fault I find with this tree is the shortness of its trunk and the 



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