 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Swietenia" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Swietenia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Fruit and leaves ofSwietenia macrophylla | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Meliaceae |
| Subfamily: | Cedreloideae |
| Genus: | Swietenia Jacq.[1] |
| Species | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Swietenia is a genus of trees in thechinaberry family,Meliaceae. It occurs natively in theNeotropics, from southernFlorida, theCaribbean,Mexico andCentral America south toBolivia. The genus is named for Dutch-Austrian physicianGerard van Swieten (1700–1772).[3] Thewood ofSwietenia trees is known asmahogany.
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.[4] Trade in Asian grown plantation mahogany is not restricted.[citation needed] Fiji and India are the largest exporters of plantation mahogany and wild mahogany remains commercially unavailable to this day.[4]
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. Theleaves 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 aredeciduous to semi-evergreen, falling shortly before the new foliage grows. Theflowers are produced in looseinflorescences, each flower small, with five white to greenish-yellowish petals. Thefruit is a pear-shaped five-valved capsule 8–20 cm long, containing numerous winged seeds about 5–9 cm long.
The three species are poorly defined biologically, in part because theyhybridize freely when grown in proximity.
| Image | Seed pods | Common Name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | .jpg) | Pacific Coast mahogany | Swietenia humilisZucc. | Pacific coast of Central America and Mexico |
.jpg) | | Honduran mahogany | Swietenia macrophyllaKing | Atlantic coast of Central America, South America south to Bolivia |
 |  | West Indian mahogany | Swietenia mahagoni(L.)Jacq. | Southern Florida, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola |
The genus is famed as the supplier ofmahogany, at first yielded bySwietenia mahagoni, a Caribbean species, which was so extensively used locally and exported that its trade ended by the 1950s. These days almost all mahogany is yielded by the mainland species,Swietenia macrophylla, although no longer from its native locations due to the restrictions set byCITES (see following.)
As a timber, bothSwietenia macrophylla andSwietenia mahogoni are both grown in plantations in several Asian countries such asFiji,Indonesia,India, andBangladesh and this plantation mahogany timber is the main source of the world's current supply of "genuine mahogany", due to cultivation and trade of it in its native locations being restricted by the Convention On International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) since the late 1990s.[citation needed] Trade in Swietenia grown and harvested in these non-native locations is not restricted. Species of this genus are only occasionally plantation-grown in Central America, in spite of the good growing conditions and high price of the wood, due to the ubiquitous presence of the mahogany shoot borer moth (also known as the cedar tip moth),Hypsipyla grandella, which damages the form of the tree by killing the terminal shoot, causing excessive branching. Control requires extensive and frequent spraying with pesticides, rendering the genus relatively uneconomic wherever the shoot borer is present.
The fruits ofSwietenia macrophylla are called "sky fruit", because they seem to hang upwards from the tree. The "sky fruit" concentrate is sold as a natural remedy that is said to improve blood circulation and skin. It is also said to haveViagra-like qualities regarding erectile dysfunction.
A somewhat comparable wood is yielded by the related African genusKhaya. This is traded asAfrican mahogany and is from the same family asSwietenia.
All species ofSwietenia areCITES-listed.Swietenia timber that crosses a border needs its paperwork in order. International environmental organizations such asGreenpeace,Friends of the Earth, andRainforest Action Network have focused onSwietenia so as to expose illegal traffic in the wood, notably from Brazil.
