Swietenia mahagoni

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Swietenia mahagoni
Cultivated tree, India
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN 2.3)
[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unraned): !ngio"#erm"
(unraned): Eudi$ot"
(unraned): %o"id"
&rder: 'a#indale"
(amil): *elia$eae
+enu": Swietenia
'#e$ie": S. mahagoni
Binomial name
Swietenia mahagoni
(,.) -a$..
Swietenia mahagoni, commonly known as the West Indies Mahogany, is a species
of Swietenia native to southern Florida in the United States and islands in
the Caribbean including the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, and ispaniola!
"#$
%t is the species
from which the originalmahogany wood was produced!
"&$
Swietenia mahagoni is listed as '(hreatened' in the )reservation of *ative Flora of
Florida +ct!
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%ts blossom is the national tree of the-ominican .epublic!
Contents
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/ -iscovery
o /!/ Ship construction
o /!# Furniture
o /!& Botanical history
# Characteristics
& Cultivation and uses
, U!S! Federal 01perimental Forest
2 3egal protection
4 .eferences
5 01ternal links
Discovery[edit]
(he earliest recorded use of S. mahagoni was in /2/,! (his date year was carved into a
rough6hewn cross placed in the Catedral de Santa 7ar8a la 7enor in Santo -omingo, the
capital of what is now the -ominican .epublic, at the beginning of the building9s
construction! Completed about /2,:, it is the oldest church in the West %ndies, and its
interior was ornamented with carved mahogany woodwork that is still in almost perfect
condition after 2:: years in the tropics!
"2$
;ther records refer to the use of mahogany between /2#/ and /2,:, when Spanish
e1plorers employed the wood for making canoes and for ship repair work in the West
%ndies! (he ne1t significant recorded use was in /2<5, regarding repairs for Sir Walter
.aleigh9s ships in the West %ndies! (he first documented use in 0urope of West %ndies
mahogany for ma=or building structures prior to /25> was in Spain! %t was specified for
use in the construction and interior decoration of one of the grandest royal residences
built during the .enaissance in 0urope,0l 0scorial! %t seems likely that the merits of
mahogany were already well6known and that it was used e1tensively, since ?ing )hilip %%
of Spain9s advisors re@uisitioned it for making the interior trim work and elaborate
furniture of a group of some of the most e1pensive buildings ever built in 0uropeA
"4$
'When in /25> the king ordered incorruptible and very good woods 6 cedar, ebony,
mahogany, acana, guayacan and iron wood 6 sent to embellish the 01corial, they had to
be brought from a distance by the slaves!!! Shipment of such woods was made in the
summer of /25< and others followed through a period of ten years at least!'
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7ahogany9s first ma=or use in Spain and 0ngland was for ship building, and during the
/>th century it was the chief wood employed in 0urope for that purpose!
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7ark
Catesby9s Natural History describes mahogany9s e1cellence in that regardA '"7ahogany$
has )roperties for that Use e1celling ;ak, and all other Wood, viB! -urableness, resisting
Cunshots, and burying the Shot without Splintering!'
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%n his '(he istory of Barbados, etc', the Welsh scholar John -avies D/4#2E/4<&F refers
to merchant ships prior to /444 calling on West %ndies ports to take on occasional
shipments of mahogany timberA 'Some masters of ships who trade to the Caribbies many
times bring thence planks of this wood which are of such length and breadth that there
needs but one to make a fair and large table!'
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Ship construction[edit]
7ahogany, cedar and other woods were shipped more or less regularly from the West
%ndies to Spain long before /252, for Spain at that time dominated the world and its
demand for ship building timbers was enormous! Spain itself had no timber suitable for
building ships and its unfriendly relations with northern 0urope made drawing supplies
from that source impossibleG conse@uently it obtained timber from San -omingo, Cuba
and Jamaica for building many ships of the Spanish +rmada prior to /2>>! + number of
the largest Spanish ships were built of West %ndies mahogany!
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Spain turned to Cuba for supplies of timber suitable for ship masts, since the rebellion in
Flanders Dthe 0ighty Hears9 War began in /244F had shut off that source!
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+ccording to a
passage @uoted by the British naval historian, alton Stirling 3ecky, Spain continued
building ships from West %ndies mahogany for two hundred more yearsA '!!!Several
Spanish men6of6war were captured by the British during naval battles! ;ne of these,
the Gibraltar, of >: guns, captured by 3ord .odney off Cape St! Iincent was broken up in
the royal dock yard at )embroke, and though she must have been one of the oldest ships
afloat, yet all her timbers were so sound as when they were put into her, and the whole
British navy, and if % DCapt! Chaffell, secretary of the .oyal 7ail Steam )acket CompanyF
am not mistaken, are now supplied with tables made out of the Gibraltar timbers!
(he Gibraltarwas captured in /5>: and was finally broken up in />&4!'
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(he dissemination of Clayton -issinger 7ell9s /</5 monograph on the sub=ect, '(rue
7ahogany', resulted in the increased use of mahogany in ship constructionA '%t is
particularly suited for planking, waterways, bulwarks, rails, skylights and companions,
bitts, gangway ladders, and other deck work! With the later employment of iron, steel and
teak in shipbuilding, mahogany became far more important as a furniture wood, though it
is still preferred to any other wood for the framework of small sailing vessels! 3arge
sailing vessels with mahogany framework were sold for enormous prices and
manufactured into fine furniture!'
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-uring World War %% mahogany was used in the construction of small boats from the #/6
#, meter D5: to >: footF )( boats Dmotor )atrol (orpedoF to the small rescue boats that
were parachuted from rescue planesG its use for boat construction increased from /,&2:
7 board feet in /<,: to #/,2:: 7 board feet in /<,&!
"2$
;ften reputed to be made of
plywood, )( boats were actually made of diagonally layered #26millimetre6thick D/ inF
mahogany planks with a glue6impregnated layer of canvas in between! +s a testament to
the strength of this type of construction, several )( boats withstood catastrophic battle
damage and still remained afloat! (he most notable of those instances involved the PT-
109, then commanded by a young officer, John F! ?ennedy, who later became the
)resident of the United States! (he forward half of his boat stayed afloat for /# hours
after she was rammed by a Japanese destroyer!
(he U!S! *avy Bureau of Ships approves mahogany for use in small boats and high6
speed boats that re@uire a wood easy to work, medium in weight but ade@uate in
strength, with low shrinking, swelling, and warping characteristics, and high decay
resistance!
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%n /<44, mahogany still held an important place in the construction of
yachts, launches, motorboats, and small boats of various kinds! %n large ships its use is
confined largely to interior trim, paneling, and furniture! %n a large lu1ury liner, the volume
for such uses may be considerable!
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Furniture[edit]
(he Spanish e1plorers were @uick to appreciate West %ndies 7ahogany9s special
propertiesG its early importation and use in cabinetwork is attested by the /4th century
provenance of some fine Spanish .enaissance pieces!
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Jueen 0liBabeth is said to
have been interested in samples of mahogany brought by Sir Walter .aleigh on his
return from (rinidad in /2<2!
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7ahogany was little used in 0nglish furniture making until
the />th century, as domestic oak and walnut were the predominant woods used!
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(he
first use of S. mahagoni in the United ?ingdom for cabinet work was in /5#,!
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Het mahogany became the essential material that led to the golden age of British
furniture6making in the />th century, which )ercy 7ac@uoid, a connoisseur of 0nglish
furniture, calls the '+ge of 7ahogany'!
"/2$
Furniture makers have used the wood more or
less continuously since then not only in the United ?ingdom, but
in France, Spain and %taly as well! (he 0mpire style of furniture featured its use
e1tensively, and the Federal Style D/5>:6/>&:F in +merican furniture design is essentially
a mahogany style!
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7ell9s paper of /</5 refers to its e1tensive use in the early #:th
century, but its importance for some purposes has diminished! 7ahogany was formerly
much used for the interior finish of railroad parlor cars, public buildings, hotels, and
dwellings and for office fi1tures! %t also was used e1tensively in the manufacture
of fortepianos, astronomical and surveying instruments, and cases for delicate
apparatuses such as scales, microscopes, and microtomes!
S. mahagoni mahogany is used to make modern musical instruments because of its
superior tonewood @ualities! %t is sometimes utiliBed in the top of guitars as well as the
back, sides and neck, and is not uncommon in older mandolins! (he wood is also used in
the manufacture of electric guitars such as the Cibson 3es )aul modelsA the Custom,
the-elu1e and the Studio! (hree6ply laminations of mahogany, poplar and mahogany are
found in top of the line drum shells! 7ahogany is used for the wooden bars of marimbas!
Botanical history[edit]
Before the +merican revolution, botanists from 0urope had e1plored and described the
flora of the Carolinas, Florida, and the Bahamas! Fifty6si1 years before naturalist and
illustrator John James +udubon was born, Iolume (wo of 7ark Catesby9s folio siBed
natural history was published in /5#<!
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Catesby9s hand6colored plate of the mahogany
tree, along with a description in 0nglish and French Dnot 3atin as might have been
e1pectedF, was the basis for 3innaeus using his new binomial nomenclature to name it!
"2$
When 3innaeus9 description was published in /52> as Cedrela mahagoni,
"/4$
mahogany
had been well known for more than #:: years to the lumber and woodworking trades!
(wo years later, *ikolaus Joseph von Jac@uin reclassified it and placed the West %ndies
7ahogany (ree into his newly created genus, Swietenia!
"/5$
is classification still stands!
Characteristics[edit]
Foliage
Bark
Swietenia mahagoni is a medium6siBed semi6evergreen tree growing to &:E&2 metres
D<>E//2 ftF tall! (he leaves are pinnate, /#E#2 centimetres D,!5E<!> inF long, with four to
eight leaflets, each leaflet 2E4 centimetres D#!:E#!, inF long and #E& centimetres D:!5<E
/!/> inF broadG there is no terminal leaflet! (he flowers are small, produced in panicles!
(he fruit is a woody capsule 2E/: centimetres D#!:E&!< inF long and &E4 centimetres
D/!#E#!, inF broad, containing numerous winged seeds!
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(he bark in younger specimens is smooth and grayish, becoming darker and furrowed
with age! %n the U!S! mahoganies are semi6deciduous, losing all or most of their leaves
over winter or shedding at the flush of new growth in spring! *ew leaves emerge blood
red to pinkish, @uickly becoming a bright, light green and darkening as they mature!
%n the Florida ?eys and south Florida, the species grows at the northern e1tent of its
range, with individuals reaching /:E/2 metres D&&E,< ftF tall!
Cultivation and uses[edit]
Supplies of S. mahagoni are very rare due to over6harvesting, and most mahogany
marketed now comes from other related species, often with faster growth but of lower
wood @uality!
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%t is also grown as an ornamental tree in subtropical and tropical regions!
(here has been some research into the acaricidal effects of its leaves and bark for
control of the honey bee pest Varroa destrutor
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U.S. Federal Experimental Forest[edit]
Since /<2, the United States government has owned and maintained a /,5 acre
observation plot of secondary growth S! mahagoni at 0state (homas on St! Croi1, United
States Iirgin %slands! %t is managed =ointly by the %nternational %nstitute of (ropical
Forestry with an ad=oining privately owned tree farm at 0state Bellevue which belongs to
the testamentary estate of -r! .ichard 7arshall Bond a biologist who supervised the
establishment of the federal tree farm at 0state (homas!
Legal protection[edit]
West %ndies 7ahogany is native to southern Florida, and is protected by state, federal
and international conservation laws! (he other two species of Swietenia are also
tonewoods used in the making of musical instruments! Swietenia has a long history of
being used to make bo1es and cases for scientific instruments and other mechanisms, as
well as furniture and ornamental woodwork!
+mong various provisions, the 3acey +ct of /<:: prohibits trade in plants that have been
illegally taken, transported or sold, and re@uires a documented chain of possession for
plant products sold in the United States! (he Convention on %nternational (rade in
0ndangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora DC%(0SF lists S. mahagoni in +ppendi1 %%
Donly saw6logs, sawn wood and veneersF! (he %nternational Union for Conservation of
*ature D%UC*F classifies S. mahagoni as 0ndangered!
"/$
S. mahagoni is also listed as
'(hreatened' in the )reservation of *ative Flora of Florida +ct!