Family: Meliaceae
Common name: Mahogany, American mahogany, Cuban mahogany, small-leaved mahogany, West Indian mahogany, Dominican mahogany, Jamaican mahogany, Spanish mahogany, West Indies mahogany, Puerto Rico mahogany
One of the largest and most popular trees that are used to make furniture, Mahogany is very commonly seen in India in home gardens, backyards, landscaped areas, and roadsides.
Tree Characteristics
They grow into very big trees, about 30-35 meters in height and 1-meter trunk diameter. The trunk is large, brown, fissured, and flaky with many buttresses giving the trunk an even larger girth.
Mahogany trees are well-branched with heavy, thick branches, giving adequate shade over a large area. Branches are smooth in young trees but grow rugged and scaly with age.
Leaves are pinnate containing 4-8 pairs of dark green leaflets that are 6-10 cm long. In cold or drought-prone areas, the Mahogany tree is deciduous, shedding all its leaves before new tender leaves come in.
The tree produces small greenish-yellow flowers that are 5-7mm in diameter on small panicles. They are cream or pale yellow in color, about 2-4 cm in diameter. Though the flowers are small, they are produced in abundance attracting pollinating insects to it.
Mahogany fruits are very unique, brown, and bulbous, standing upright on the tree, pointing upwards. They are 8-10 cm long and 4-5 cm in diameter. These fruits split into five separate valves from the base on maturity. Mahogany fruits contain numerous brown, winged seeds that are 4-6 cm long.
Fruits are produced only after 30-40 years of growth, and the tree lives for 300-350 years.
Growing Tips
Mahogany trees are not the best choice for home gardens since they are tall, majestic trees with a good canopy spread.
But they make excellent landscape trees for urban landscaped areas or parks, providing shade and shelter.
They prefer full sun and rich, well-drained soil. A tropical tree, Mahogany trees are resistant to strong winds, poor soil, pollution, salinity, and weather fluctuations.
It’s an heirloom tree, living through many generations, aging gracefully and slowly. No parts of the tree are edible.
Watering, fertilization, and pruning needs to be done when the trees are small. Once they are established in the soil, these trees can be ignored for years.
Common species seen in India are Swietenia mahagoni and Swietenia macrophylla, the latter characterized by their larger leaves.
Uses of Mahogany
Mahogany trees are used extensively in construction and furniture making. In Kerala, the southernmost state of India, Mahogany is very popular in construction; the beautiful, versatile wood used for pillars, kitchen panels, sofas, beds, etc.
Wood carvings are seen very commonly on door frames and ceilings in Kerala architecture – mahogany, rosewood, and teak being regularly used for this purpose.
It was used for making ships in the past, for planks, bulwarks, waterways, decks, ladders, etc. Mahogany is also used in making musical instruments like guitars, mandolins, drums, and marimbas.
The wood is reddish-brown in color with occasional streaks of dark red or brown. It is moderately soft and takes to planing, drilling, and cutting reasonably well.
That’s one reason Mahogany furniture is in demand all over the world. Many countries now have laws to prevent the over-use and felling of Mahogany trees, listing them as a Threatened or Protected species.
Propagation
Propagation is through seeds, stem cuttings, and air layering.
Mature seeds collected from parent plants can be planted in moist, well-draining soil to germinate in 2-3 weeks.
Semi-hardwood cuttings taken from healthy trees can also take root in soil.
Air layering is the process of making a small cut in a branch, covering it with sphagnum moss, and keeping it moist to produce roots. Once the roots are produced, they can be cut from the parent plant and replanted.
