Swietenia mahagoni and Swietenia macrophylla, the differences

SPECIES HEAD TO HEAD - To date, mahogany (Swietenia Jacq.) is recorded as having four species: West Indian mahogany or small-leaved mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni (L.) Jacq.), big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla King), Honduran mahogany (Swietenia humilis Zucc.) and Swietenia × aubrevilleana Stehlé & Cusin.

The debate over the number of taxa in the genus is still not resolved. Some researchers believe that there are only two species: S. mahagoni and S. macrophylla. I agree with that opinion and the two species can only be differentiated by the size of the leaves.

All species in this genus have similar morphology except for leaf size. The following is the key to identifying these two species.

S. mahagoni has a stalk length of around 37 cm with 5-6 pairs of strands. The strands are about 10 cm long and about 3.5 cm wide.

Dlium Swietenia mahagoni and Swietenia macrophylla, the differences 2

S. macrophylla has a stalk length of up to 45 cm with 4-5 pairs of strands. The strands are up to 31 cm long and up to 8 cm wide.

Dlium Swietenia mahagoni and Swietenia macrophylla, the differences 3

By Aryo Bandoro
Founder of Dlium.com. You can follow him on X: @Abandoro.

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