Skip to main content

Big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla)

Mahoni or mahogany or big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is plant species in Meliaceae, large tree with a height reaching 35–40 meters, diameter up to 125 cm, straight stems and cylindrical. This tree reduces air pollution by around 47%-69%, shade trees, air filters and water catchers.

S. macrophylla has blackish brown bark, shallow grooves like scales, while the bark is gray and smooth when still young, but turns dark brown, grooved and flakes after aging. Mahoni blooms after 7 years of age, cylindrical flower crowns, brownish yellow, stamens attached to crowns, white and brownish anthers.

Dlium Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla)

Fruit appears in ovoid packs, notched five and brown. Flat seeds, black or brown. Mahogany grows wild in forests and other places in the lowlands or planted on the edge of the road as a protective tree. Big-leaf mahogany can flourish in brackish sand close to the beach.

Big-leaf mahogany are called air filter trees and water catchers. The leaves absorb pollutants around and release oxygen which makes the surrounding air fresh. Soil and roots bind rainwater which is beneficial for water reserves.

Fruit contains flavonoids and saponins for blood circulation, reduces cholesterol and fat deposits in the blood vessels, acts as an antioxidant to get rid of free radicals, prevent pestilence, helps improve the immune system, prevents blood clots and strengthens heart function.

Mahoni survives in arid land and brackish sand close to the beach and likes a place with lots of direct sunlight. S. macrophylla can live for months without water. Big-leaf mahogany grows well at a maximum height of 1,500 meters above sea level, rainfall of 1,524-5,085 mm/year, and temperatures of 11-36C.





Since the 1990s, many have started to be cultivated for wood that has high economic value. The quality of hardwood and is very good for furniture, carving items and handicrafts. Often also for ruler material because size is not easily changed.

The quality of mahogany is slightly below teak (Tectona grandis) and is often dubbed the second prima donna in the world timber market. The bark is used to dye the clothes where the cloth is boiled with mahogany bark will turn yellow and not fade. Mahogany sap is used as raw material for glue and leaves for animal feed.

Seed extract is used as a vegetable pesticide to control Plutella xylostella and Crocidolomia binolalis which attack cabbage plants, especially during pests in the larval stage. The use of botanical insecticides is an alternative pest control to reduce the negative impact of using unwise synthetic insecticides.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Sapindales
Family: Meliaceae
Genus: Swietenia
Species: Swietenia macrophylla

Popular Posts

Black potato (Coleus rotundifolius)

Black potato ( Coleus rotundifolius ) is a species of plant in Lamiaceae, herbaceous, fibrous roots and tubers, erect and slightly creeping stems, quadrangular, thick, and slightly odorous. Single leaves, thick, membranous, opposite and alternate. Leaves are oval, dark green and shiny on the upper side, bright green on the lower side. Up to 5 cm long, up to 4 cm wide, slightly hairy and pinnate leaf veins. Leaf stalks up to 4 cm long. Small, purple flowers. Star-shaped petals, lip-shaped crown, dark to light purple with a slightly curved tube shape. Flowering from February-August. Small tubers, brown and white flesh and tuber length 2-4 cm. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Lamiaceae Subfamily: Nepetoideae Tribe: Ocimeae Subtribe: Plectranthinae Genus: Coleus Species: Coleus rotundifolius

Wild durian (Cullenia exarillata)

Wild durian ( Cullenia exarillata ) is a species of plant in the Malvaceae, a tall tree with smooth, greyish-white bark, peeling on older trees, a straight trunk, horizontal branches and often with a series of knob-like tubercles for flower and fruit attachment. C. exarillata has young branches and the underside of the leaves is covered with golden brown peltate or shield-like scales. The leaves are single, alternate, glabrous, glossy green on the upper side and covered with silvery or orange peltate scales on the underside. Hermaphroditic flowers are tubular and also covered with golden brown scales, 4-5 cm long and cream or reddish brown in color. Flowers have no petals, formed of tubular bracteoles and tubular calyxes, 5-lobed. Fruit is round, 10-13 cm in diameter, covered with thorns and clustered along the branches. Many seeds, reddish brown, 4-5 cm long and 2-3 cm wide. The seeds are enclosed by a fleshy, whitish aril. The fruit splits open when ripe and dries to release the s...

Thomas Sutikna lives with Homo floresiensis

BLOG - On October 28, 2004, a paper was published in Nature describing the dwarf hominin we know today as Homo floresiensis that has shocked the world. The report changed the geographical landscape of early humans that previously stated that the Pleistocene Asia was only represented by two species, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens . The report titled "A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia" written by Peter Brown and Mike J. Morwood from the University of New England with Thomas Sutikna, Raden Pandji Soejono, Jatmiko, E. Wahyu Saptomo and Rokus Awe Due from the National Archaeology Research Institute (ARKENAS), Indonesia, presents more diversity in the genus Homo. “Immediately, my fever vanished. I couldn’t sleep well that night. I couldn’t wait for sunrise. In the early morning we went to the site, and when we arrived in the cave, I didn’t say a thing because both my mind and heart couldn’t handle this incredible moment. I just went down...