99 
MAHOGANY TREE. 
SWIETENIA mahogoni, foliis subquadrijugis , foliolis ovato-lanceolatis 
falcatis acuminatis basi incequalibus , racemis axillaribus paniculatis. 
— Linn. Sp. pi. Decand. Prod. vol. 1, p. 625. Cavan. Dissert, vol. 
7, p. 365, t. 209. Jacq. Amer. (Ed. picta), p. 127. Catesby, Carol, 
vol. 2, t. 81. Adr. Jussieu, Mem. Mus. vol. 19, p. 249, t. 11. La- 
marck, Encyc. vol. 3, p. 678. Hook. Bot. Miscel. vol. 1, p. 21, t. 16. 
Torr. & Gray, Flor. vol. 1, p. 242. 
Cedrela foliis pinnatis , floribus spar sis , ligno graviori . Brown, Jam. 
p. 158. 
Cedrus mahogoni. Miller, Diet. No. 2. 
The late Doctor Muhlenberg was the first to announce 
the existence of the Mahogany tree within the limits 
of the United States, and he gives it in his catalogue 
as a native of Florida. Torrey and Gray add in their 
Flora, “We have seen in the herbarium of the late Mr. 
Croom, a capsule from a collection made in Southern Flo- 
rida by the late Doctor Leitner, who considered the tree 
to which it belonged to be the true Mahogany,” 1, p. 242. 
In one of those botanical excursions to explore the wilds 
of Florida, in which he had previously been so eminently 
successful, the indefatigable Leitner fell a victim to the 
savage hostility which has now so long been protracted 
over that devoted soil. He ascended a creek into the inte- 
rior, — and was seen no more ! 
. . . facilis descensus Averno. 
Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere auras, 
Hoc opus, hie labor est. 
jENEID. lib. YI. 
The Mahogany tree is said to be of rapid growth, be- 
coming a lofty tree, with a graceful spreading summit, 
