Broad leafed Mahogany Tree

L’acajou à feuilles larges est l’un des bois les plus remarquables au monde.

One of the world’s most outstanding timbers, the Broad-leafed Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is native to South America, where it is becoming increasingly rare. However, this tree is widely-cultivated in many parts of the world due to its importance in the furniture trade. The Broad-leafed Mahogany is also a good shade tree that adapts well to urban environments and is relatively pest-free. Its seeds are said to provide a traditional cure for high blood pressure and diabetes. This common roadside shade tree can be identified by its strongly asymmetrical leaflets, dark-grey and flaky bark, and its large woody fruit pods.

Diagnostics:

Large, dark green, and sickled shaped leaflets, that are arranged in clumps. This gives the tree a bushy feel. Another congenor cultivated in Singapore, Swietenia mahogani, is said to have much smaller leaflets, and also smaller fruits (Corner, 1997).

Interesting Facts:

This is one of our earliest cultivated trees; being introduced to Malaya (where Singapore formerly belongs to) in 1876 (Corner, 1988). Many huge mature stands still guard the streetscapes at many places, and it is the 3rd most commonly cultivated tree by NParks with 20,849 individuals (Tan et al., 2009). The scaly, crusted bark is easy to recognise together with its sickled-shaped leaflets. While the flowers are very small and inconspicious, the fruits are large and brown. When dried, the capsules split into five parts and release numerous single-winged seeds which spin.

The seeds are often collected by the local Chinese for treating several aliments, especially diabetes (Wee & Corlett, 1986), even during this present day of writing. However, the Health Science Authority has cautioned their use after several cases of liver injuries were reported after their consumption (CNA, 2018).