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Swietenia
macrophylla King
Synonym : Swietenia belizensis Lundell
Family
: Meliaceae
Local Names
: Mahagony
Flowering
and fruiting period:
April – March
Distribution: Native of Central
America
Habitat: Grown as avenue
tree, also raised in plantations
IUCN
status:
Vulnerable
Endemic: No
Uses: Timber yielding. The
bark is astringent, bitter and febrifuge. An infusion is used to treat
diarrhoea and fevers
Key
Characters:
Mahagoni are deciduous trees; bark brown. Leaves paripinnate, alternate;
leaflets opposite or subopposite;
lamina, obliquely ovate-lanceolate, apex acuminate, margin entire, glabrous,
shining above, dull beneath. Flowers bisexual, pale yellow; calyx lobes 5,
lobes; petals 5, oblong; staminal tube apically 10-lobed; stamens 10; ovary
superior, 5-celled, ovules many. Fruit a capsule, oblong-globose, 5-valved,
woody, rusty outside; seeds many, winged.
