Species
+

Swietenia mahagoni (L.) Jacq.

Acajou, Acajou a planches, Acajou de St. Domingue, American Mahogany

Climate known 57 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Swietenia mahagoni, commonly known as American mahogany, Cuban mahogany, small-leaved mahogany, and West Indian mahogany, is a species of Swietenia native to the broader Caribbean bioregion. It is the species from which the original mahogany wood was produced. Swietenia mahagoni is listed as "Threatened" in the Preservation of Native Flora of Florida Act. It is the national tree of the Dominican Republic.

Text from Wikipedia, “Swietenia mahagoni”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Swietenia

Swietenia is a genus of trees in the chinaberry family, Meliaceae. It occurs natively in the Neotropics, from southern Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America south to Bolivia. The genus is named for Dutch-Austrian physician Gerard van Swieten (1700–1772). More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Swietenia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Meliaceae
Described by
(L.) Jacq.
Native to
Florida, Bahamas, Cayman Is. +5
Wild records
1373 in range· 334 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Jul, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1351mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 203 mm (CHELSA)
Light
24–42DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1351 mm a year, wettest September at 203 mm, driest January at 46 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 42 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 13.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Cedrela mahagoni L.; Cedrus mahagoni (L.) Mill.; Cedrus mahogani (L.) Mill.; Swietenia acutifolia Stokes; Swietenia fabrilis Salisb. and 8 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May to October at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (997 mm of 1351 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.8 °C against a yearly mean of 24.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1351 mm a year, wettest September at 203 mm, driest January at 46 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1351 mm a year at the habitat, 997 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 203 mm, driest January at 46 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1088 mm to 1747 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 42 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 42 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 13.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 13.9 °C, the absolute minimum 9.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 18.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells 15.0 °C to 22.6 °C), warmest day 30.2 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 25 °C in Jan to 30 °C in Jul; mean night from 19 °C in Jan to 25 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1351 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 123 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 9.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°35.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)9.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 24–42RH 60–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 123 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C25 / 22–2726 / 23–2826 / 24–2827 / 25–2929 / 26–3030 / 28–3130 / 28–3230 / 28–3230 / 28–3128 / 27–3027 / 25–2826 / 23–28
Night °C19 / 15–2319 / 16–2320 / 17–2321 / 19–2423 / 20–2525 / 21–2625 / 22–2725 / 22–2725 / 21–2723 / 21–2622 / 19–2520 / 16–23
Rain mm46 / 32–7452 / 37–7163 / 41–9269 / 47–124141 / 80–242188 / 102–255143 / 76–207170 / 95–237203 / 131–250152 / 95–22975 / 52–14649 / 35–83
DLI26 / 24–3031 / 28–3436 / 34–3941 / 39–4342 / 39–4341 / 38–4342 / 39–4440 / 37–4235 / 32–3830 / 29–3326 / 24–2924 / 22–28
RH %60 / 58–6460 / 59–6360 / 58–6360 / 58–6362 / 60–6664 / 62–6663 / 61–6563 / 62–6664 / 63–6763 / 61–6862 / 59–6761 / 59–65

Each figure is the median across the 123 grid cells holding the 136 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1341:1962 (22.925, -81.875). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 9.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 123 distinct grid cells holding the 136 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1341:1962 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 23.00_-81.875, lapse-corrected +91 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 143 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeFlorida, Bahamas, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Turks-Caicos Is.· introduced: Mauritius, Réunion, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Andaman Is., Laos, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Venezuela
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker25.436, -80.533 · in the densest population, 1103 records (80% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1373 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 334 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4 km away. 505 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 1237 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1373 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Swietenia mahagoniSwietenia mahagoniSwietenia mahagoniSwietenia mahagoniSwietenia mahagoniSwietenia mahagoniSwietenia mahagoniSwietenia mahagoni

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Ben Machado, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Swietenia mahagoni, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Screening of Indonesian plant extracts for anti‐human immunodeficiency virus—type 1 (HIV‐1) activity
Toru Otake, Haruyo Mori, M. Morimoto, N Ueba (1995) · Phytotherapy Research
Traditional medicinal plants used for the treatment of diabetes in rural and urban areas of Dhaka, Bangladesh – an ethnobotanical survey
Soeren Ocvirk, Martin Kistler, Shusmita Khan, Shamim Hayder Talukder (2013) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
In Vitro Antioxidant and Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitory Activities of Methanolic Swietenia mahagoni Seed Extracts
Geethaa Sahgal, Surash Ramanathan, Sreenivasan Sasidharan, Mohd Nizam Mordi (2009) · Molecules
Brine shrimp lethality and acute oral toxicity studies on Swietenia mahagoni (Linn.) Jacq. seed methanolic extract
Sreenivasan Sasidharan, Mohd Nizam Mordi, Sabariah Ismail, SharifMahsufi Mansor (2010) · Pharmacognosy Research
Adsorption of hexavalent chromium from synthetic and electroplating effluent on chemically modified Swietenia mahagoni shell in a packed bed column
S. Rangabhashiyam, M. S. Giri Nandagopal, Ekambaram Nakkeeran, N. Selvaraju (2016) · Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Antibacterial activity of two limonoids from Swietenia mahagoni against multiple-drug-resistant (MDR) bacterial strains
Adeeb Rahman, A. K. Azad Chowdhury, Husne‐Ara Ali, Sheikh Zahir Raihan (2008) · Journal of Natural Medicines
Phytochemical and antimicrobial activity of Swietenia mahagoni crude methanolic seed extract.
Geethaa Sahgal, Surash Ramanathan, Sreenivasan Sasidharan, Mohd Nizam Mordi (2009) · PubMed
Target and non-target response of Swietenia Mahagoni Jacq. chemical constituents against tobacco cutworm Spodoptera litura Fab. and earthworm, Eudrilus eugeniae Kinb
Anandan Dinesh-Kumar, Elangovan Srimaan, Muthiah Chellappandian, Prabhakaran Vasantha‐Srinivasan (2018) · Chemosphere
Removal of Methyl Orange Dye from Aqueous Solution by a Low-Cost Activated Carbon Prepared from Mahagoni (Swietenia mahagoni) Bark
Gopal Chandra Ghosh, Tapos Kumar Chakraborty, Shahid Uz Zaman, Manoj Nahar (2020) · Pollution

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Swietenia 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 84 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.