Plant of the day is: Swietenia macrophylla or big-leaf mahogany
The term mahogany is used to describe several different species of shrubs and trees. Back in July of last year I wrote about Dalbergia abrahamii or rosewood, an endangered plant from Madagascar that has been over exploited for its absolutely beautiful wood. It gets me thinking about our use of wood. I actually am a firm believer of wood being used over plastic/particle board, it just needs to be done responsibly. Leo Drey just died a couple of days ago, so it is fresh on my mind. After a recent experience jabbering about how loud a birch snare drum was, it feels right to learn more about the wood used in the much quieter snare to the left.
Taxonomy, etc.: A member of the Meliaceae family, which I know very little about it would seem. A look through the included genera leaves me scratching my head and thinking I need to study harder. It is the Mahogany family which usually have allternate, pinnate leaves without stipules. Usually evergreen, the family is made of about 550 species. The Sweietenia genus itself is small with only about 6 accepted species. The other species used for mahagony wood are S. mahagoni and S. humilis.
Description: Can reach heights of up to 60 meters that can shoot through the rainforest canopy. It can live upwards of 350 years. The bark has a sweet odor. Small white flowers give way to a truly wonky looking fruit (see below) and some impressive looking seeds as well (I want some.). Forms up to 71 winged seeds per fruit. Seeds previously thought to be recalcitrant (don't dry and store long term) are actually orthodox and can be stored cool and fairly dry for extended periods. I would bet they don't withstand freezing well. Here is a great .pdf for you nerds. Swietenia macrophylla King. The leaves (seen above) can reach a pretty impressive 50 cm (20in). Macrophylla of course means "big-leaf" in the Latin.
Use: A highly prized and sought after wood for furniture and musical instruments. For some nice charts of how wood affects the sound of drums, check out this neat LINK. I'm all about that bass too, but considering the ecological cost, probably best to use something else. S. macrophylla is the most important member of the genus following the commercial extinction of the latter two species as a result of over-exploitation. Sadly, I'm pretty sure this species will one day be mostly eradicated as well, as illegal lumbering in South America is extremely lucrative. Worth nothing that there is a booming plantation market for this species in India, Fiji, Singapore, etc. Asian plantation grown S. macrophylla is not subject to CITES restrictions and is your everyday main source of the wood. It does have CITES protection, but there is a well organized black market.
If you want to get REAL depressed about being a human. Go to the wiki page and look at the before and after map of it's range. It's shrinking absurdly rapidly. Here is the wiki. I can't help but feel ashamed of my species when I see our will carried out in such a way. Some estimate that it will also be commercially extinct within five years. Five.
Range: The Wiki page has a map, basically the northern/central swatch of South America and smaller every day.
Check the pictures below to cheer up a little :).
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