Mahogany(ಮಹಾಗನಿ)

Mahogany(ಮಹಾಗನಿ)

Family: Meliaceae

Characteristic features:

Habit : Deciduous trees, to 25 m high; bark brown.

Leaves : paripinnate, alternate, estipulate; rachis 5-13 cm long, slender, glabrous; leaflets 4-10, opposite or subopposite; petiolule 3-4 mm long, slender, grooved above, glabrous; lamina 5.5-12 x 2.5-4.5 cm, obliquely ovate-lanceolate, oblong-acuminate, oblong-lanceolate or falcate; base oblique, apex acuminate or caudate-acuminate, margin entire, glabrous, shining above, dull beneath, coriaceous; lateral nerves 7-12 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae reticulate.

Flowers : bisexual, pale yellow, to 8 mm across, in axillary panicles to 10 cm; pedicel 2-4 mm; calyx lobes 5, lobes 0.5 mm, suborbicular; petals 5, to 4 mm, oblong; disc annular; staminal tube 3.5-4 mm, apically 10-lobed; stamens 10; ovary superior, 5-celled, ovules many; style to 1.5 mm long, attenuate; stigma some what lobed.

Fruit : a capsule, 8.5 x 6.5 cm, oblong-globose, 5-valved, woody, rusty out side.

seeds : many, 6 cm, winged.

Flowering and Fruiting season: March-April.