Big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is a species of plant in the Meliaceae, a large tree, 35-40 meters high, up to 125 cm in diameter, straight, cylindrical and without buttresses. This tree reduces air pollution by around 47% - 69%, provides shade and captures water.
S. macrophylla has blackish brown bark and shallow grooves like scales. The bark is gray and smooth when young, but turns dark brown, grooved and peels as it matures. The leaves are elongated oval in shape, with a sharp tip, up to 30 cm long, 8 cm wide and 1.5 cm in stem.
The flowers after 7 years, the flower crown is cylindrical, brownish yellow, the stamens are attached to the crown, the anthers are white and brownish yellow. Fruit boxes in ovoid, five-notched, brown packaging. Seeds are flat, black or brown.
This plant grows wild in forests and other places in the lowlands or is planted on roadsides as a protective tree. Big-leaf mahogany can thrive in brackish sand close to the beach. Leaves absorb pollutants and release oxygen which makes the surrounding air fresh. Soil and roots bind rainwater which is useful for water reserves.
Fruit contains flavonoids and saponins to improve blood circulation, reduce cholesterol and fat deposits in the blood vessels, act as an antioxidant to get rid of free radicals, prevent pestilence, help improve the immune system, prevent blood clots and strengthen heart function.
This species survives in arid land and brackish sand close to the coast and likes places with lots of sunlight. S. macrophylla can live for months without water. Big-leaf mahogany grows well at a maximum elevation of 1500 meters, rainfall of 1524-5085 mm/year and temperatures of 11-36C.
Hardwood and excellent for furniture, carved items and handicrafts. Rulers are often also made because the size does not change easily. The quality of the wood is slightly below teak wood and is often dubbed the second favorite in the world wood market. The bark is used to dye clothes. The sap is used as raw material for glue and leaves for animal feed.
TAXON
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Sapindales
Family: Meliaceae
Subfamily: Cedreloideae
Tribe: Cedreleae
Genus: Swietenia Jacq. in Enum. Syst. Pl.: 4 (1760)
Species: Swietenia macrophylla King in Hooker's Icon. Pl. 16: t. 1550 (1886)
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS
Swietenia belizensis Lundell in Contr. Univ. Michigan Herb. 6: 36 (1941)
Swietenia candollei Pittier in J. Washington Acad. Sci. 10: 33 (1920)
Swietenia krukovii Gleason in Amer. J. Bot. 23: 21 (1936)
Swietenia macrophylla var. marabaensis Ledoux & Lobato in Estud. Forest. Estuar. Amaz. 15: 1 (1973)
Swietenia tessmannii Harms in Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 10: 180 (1927)
PUBLICATIONS
Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.
Balick, M. J., M. H. Nee & D.E. Atha (2000). Checklist of the vascular plants of Belize. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 85: 1-246.
Barthelat, F. (2019). La flore illustrée de Mayotte: 1-687. Biotope éditions.
Berendsohn, W.G., Gruber, A.K. & Monterrosa Salomón, J. (2012). Nova Silva Cusatlantica. Árboles natinos e introducidos de El Salvador. Parte 2: Angiospermae - Familias M a P y Pteridophyta. Englera 29-2: 1-300.
Boggan, J. Funck, V. & Kelloff, C. (1997). Checklist of the Plants of the Guianas (Guyana, Surinam, Franch Guiana) ed. 2: 1-238. University of Guyana, Georgetown.
Castle, G.E. (1994). Flore des Seychelles Dicotylédones: 1-663. Orstom Editions.
Fosberg, F.R., Sachet, M.-H., Oliver, R. (1979). A geographical checklist of the Micronesian Dicotyledonae. Micronesica; Journal of the College of Guam 15: 41-295.
Hancock, I.R. & Henderson, C.P. (1988). Flora of the Solomon Islands. Research Bulletin Dodo Creek Research Station 7: 1-203.
Hokche, O., Berry, P.E. & Huber, O. (eds.) (2008). Nuevo Catálogo de la Flora Vascular de Venezuela: 1-859. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela.
Jørgensen, P.M. & León-Yánez, S. (eds.) (1999). Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Ecuador. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 75: i-viii, 1-1181. Missouri Botanical Garden.
Jørgensen, P.M., Nee, M.H. & Beck., S.G. (eds.) (2013). Catálogo de las plantas vasculares de Bolivia. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 127: 1-1741. Missouri Botanical Garden.
Lê, T.C. (2003). Danh lục các loài thực vật Việt Nam 2: 1-1203. Hà Nội : Nhà xuất bản Nông nghiệp.
Mota de Oliveira, S. & Jansen-Jacobs, M.J. (eds.) (2016). Flora of the Guianas, Series A 31: 1-169. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Newman, M., Ketphanh, S., Svengsuksa, B., Thomas, P., Sengdala, K., Lamxay, V. & Armstrong, K. (2007). A checklist of the vascular plants of Lao PDR: 1-394. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.
Niembro Rocas, A., Vázquez Torres, M. & Sáchez Sáchez, O. (2010). Árboles de Veracruz 100 especies para la reforstación estratégica: 1-253. Gombierno del Estado de Veracruz, México.
Pandey, R.P. & Dilwakar, P.G. (2008). An integrated check-list flora of Andaman and Nicobar islands, India. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 32: 403-500.
Pasha, M.K. & Uddin, S.B. (2013). Dictionary of plant names of Bangladesh, Vasc. Pl.: 1-434. Janokalyan Prokashani, Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Plunkett, G.M., Ranker, T.A., Sam, C. & Balick, M.J. (2022). Towards a checklist of the vascular flora of Vanuatu. Candollea 77: 105-118.
Villaseñor, J.L. (2016). Checklist of the native vascular plants of Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 87: 559-902.
Wongprasert, T., Phengklai, C. & Boonthavikoon, T. (2011). A synoptic account of the Meliaceae of Thailand. Thai Forest Bulletin (Botany) 39: 210-266.
VERNACULAR NAME
Bengali: বড় পাতার মেহগনি
Burmese: မဟော်ဂနီရွက်ကြီး
Chinese (simplified): 大叶桃花心木 - 向天果
Chinese (traditional): 大葉桃花心木
Dutch: Grootbladige mahonie
Dzongkha: འདབ་མ་སྦོམ་གྱི་མེ་ཧོ་ག་ནི།
English: Big-leaf Mahogany
Filipino: Malaking dahon ng mahogany
Finnish: Amerikanaitomahonki
French: Acajou à grandes feuilles, Mahogany grandes feuilles
Hindi: बड़ी पत्ती वाली महोगनी
Indonesia: Mahoni, Mahoni daun besar
Japanese: オオバマホガニー
Java: Maoni dondong
Kannada: Hebbevu
Khmer: ម៉ាហូហ្គានីស្លឹកធំ
Korea: 큰잎 마호가니
Lao: ໄມ້ມະໂຫການີໃບໃຫຍ່
Malayalam: mahagony
Malaysia: Mahoni daun besar
Nepali: ठूलो पात भएको महोगनी
Pashto: د لویو پاڼو مهوګني
Polish: Mahoniowiec wielkolistny
Portuguese: Aguano, Araputanga, Cedro-I, Mogno, Mogno-brasileiro, Mogno-da-amazônia
Sinhala: ලොකු කොළ මහෝගනී
Slovak: Mahagónovník veľkolistý
Spanish: Caoba
Tamil: பெரிய இலை மஹோகனி
Telugu: Mahagani, Peddakulamaghani
Thai: ไม้มะฮอกกานีใบใหญ่
Urdu: بڑی پتی مہوگنی
Vietnam: Gỗ gụ lá to
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