THE MAHOGANY AND THE GUMBO LIMBO - I. FAMILY MELIACEAE. The Mahogany (Swietenia Mahogani, Jacq.) is the true mahogany whose heavy, brownish-red wood is so highly valued by the makers of elegant furniture. In Central America and in the West Indies it grows to great size, and is remarkable in having huge buttresses extending out from the base of its lofty trunk. In the Florida Keys it attains but medium size, and the greed of lumbermen usually sacrifices the half-grown trees. It is known as "Madeira," and is used in boat building.
Nurserymen in Florida and southern California offer small mahogany trees for ornamental planting. The potted specimens bloom when quite young. The tree has graceful, slender branches, delicate, shiny, ash-like leaves, and light sprays of tiny white flowers. The fruits are heavy, brown, 4-valved capsules as large as lemons and full of winged seeds.
The wood, beside being beautiful in colour and in pattern of grain, becomes richer in tone with age, and seems impervious to decay. The finest grades of this wood grow on upland lime stone soil. The Florida trees do not furnish this first-grade
lumber.
The China Berry, Chinese Umbrella Tree, or Pride of India (Melia A?ederacb, Linn.), is a relative of the mahogany. It came from China into European and American gardens long ago. It grows easily from seed, and rapidly becomes a most admirable shade tree. In April it bears a profusion of fragrant, lilac-coloured flowers, succeeded by yellowish berries. The leaves are bright and luxuriant, and remain so until late in the autumn, when they are gradually shed.
The variety umbraculiformis is the one most commonly planted. It is known as the Texas umbrella tree. The only fault I find with this tree is the shortness of its trunk and the density of its leaf thatch. It cuts off the life-giving breezes too often and too well. The native Floridian's one-story house set low in the midst of his garden soon has its windows and doors choked by the "China trees" that were set too close to each other and to the house.