CATALOGUE OF THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 125 



responsible for " worm-holes." Therefore, to give the name mahogany 

 to other woods that are 

 merely reminiscent of it as 

 regards colour and general 

 appearance is quite unjustifi- 

 able. Yet the name has 

 locally or even more widely 

 been applied to numbers of 

 woods having little agree- 

 ment with mahogany in 

 appearance or properties : 

 for instance, in Australia, 

 the woods of several kinds of 

 gum trees {Eucalyptus), in- 

 cluding jarrah, and in the 

 United States even a com- 

 mon birch {Betula lento). 



The woods deserving the 

 name of mahogany are 

 now procured from Central 

 America, the West Indies, and 

 tropical West Africa. The 

 American woods are said to 

 be the products of a genus 

 Swietenia which belongs to 

 the family Meliaceae, which 

 might be termed the mahog- 

 any family. The Swietenia 

 trees themselves have leaves 

 recalling those of ash or 

 laburnum in design, though 

 not in shape. The flowers, 

 seed-cases, and seeds are also 

 characteristic. The genuine 

 African mahogany tree wouVl 

 be recognised as such by 

 persons familiar with Siene- 

 tenia, for in foliage, flowers, 

 seed-cases and seeds, as well 

 as in wood, they closely 

 resemble the American trees. 

 They belong to the same family, Meliaceae, and even to the same sub- 

 division of that family, but to different genera, namely, in the main, 



A VERY Handsome African M.ahoganv Curl. 



