Swietenia is a genus of trees in the chinaberry family, Meliaceae. It occurs natively in the Neotropics, from southern Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America south to Bolivia. The genus is named for Dutch-Austrian physician Gerard van Swieten (1700–1772). The wood of Swietenia trees is known as mahogany.
Overview
The genus was introduced into several Asian countries as a replacement source of mahogany timber around the time it was restricted in its native locations in the late 1990s. Fiji and India are the largest exporters of plantation mahogany and wild mahogany remains commercially unavailable to this day.
It is usually taken to consist of three species, geographically separated. They are medium-sized to large trees growing to 20–45 m tall, and up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) trunk diameter. The leaves are 10–30 cm long, pinnate, with 3–6 pairs of leaflets, the terminal leaflet absent; each leaflet is 5–15 cm long. The leaves are deciduous to semi-evergreen, falling shortly before the new foliage grows. The flowers are produced in loose inflorescences, each flower small, with five white to greenish-yellowish petals. The fruit is a pear-shaped five-valved capsule 8–20 cm long, containing numerous winged seeds about 5–9 cm long.
Species
Image
Seed pods
Common name
Scientific name
Distribution
Pacific Coast mahogany
Swietenia humilis Zucc.
Pacific coast of Central America and Mexico
Honduran mahogany
Swietenia macrophylla King
Atlantic coast of Central America, South America south to Bolivia
West Indian mahogany
Swietenia mahagoni (L.) Jacq.
Southern Florida, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, the Bahamas
Chloroxylon swietenia DC. (as S. chloroxylon Roxb.)
Khaya senegalensis (Desr.) A.Juss. (as S. senegalensis Desr.)
Soymida febrifuga (Roxb.) A.Juss. (as S. febrifuga Roxb.)
Toona sureni (Blume) Merr. (as S. sureni Blume)
