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Trade or Common
Name: Mahogany, true or genuine mahogany, bigleaf mahogany, Honduras
mahogany
Local Name: Caoba
Botanical Name: Swietenia macrophylla
Family: Meliaceae
The Tree: In the natural
rainforest, Mahogany is a very large canopy tree, sometimes reaching over 150 feet in
height, with trunks sometimes more than 6 feet in diameter above a large basal buttress.
It is a generally open-crowned tree, with gray to brownish-red fissured bark.
Status: Mahogany is perhaps
the most valuable timber tree in the whole of Latin America and has been heavily exploited
for most of this century. Mahogany is becoming increasingly rare, and is already extinct
in parts of its original range. It is listed as threatened in "Arboles Maderables en
Peligro de Extinción en Costa Rica" and is listed in CITES Appendix III.
The Wood: Mahogany varies
from yellowish, reddish, pinkish, or salmon colored when freshly cut, to a deep rich red,
to reddish brown as the wood matures with age. Mahogany is fine to medium texture, with
uniform to interlocking grain, ranging from straight to wavy or curly. Irregularities in
the grain often produce highly attractive figures such as fiddleback or mottle. Mahogany
polishes to a high luster, with excellent working and finishing characteristics. It
responds well to hand and machine tools, has good nailing and screwing properties, and
turns and carves superbly.
Uses: Mahogany is regarded by
many as the world's premier wood for fine cabinetry, high-class furniture, trimming fine
boats, pianos and other musical instruments, sculpture, joinery, turnery, figured and
decorative veneer, interior trim, and carving.
Availability: We
have
mahogany trees available only as part of our Premium
Mixture.
How to order trees
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