Mahogany, placed among the second class of ship-building woods by Lloyd's Register, was once used to some extent in place of oak in naval architecture, but is now so greatly valued for decoration as to be employed for little else, save occasionally the hulls of small pleasure craft. The decorative value is due to a combination of beauty, working qualities, and durability. Beauty is influenced by both grain and warm red color. The latter is generally light, and although it subsequently darkens, in most cases, to a characteristic and rich reddish-brown, is usually induced immediately by stains. The grain is not only beautiful of itself, but is such as to receive those stains and finishing processes thus demanded. Different localities produce woods varying in tint and grain. Individual [p119] trees also differ in desirability. No two are alike. Beautiful grain effects are often obtained in "crotches" or junctions between trunk and branch, and such pieces bring high prices. Mahogany is generally used as a veneer. Layers are glued either to some central piece or "core" or else to one another. The layers are arranged so as to cross one another's grain, and results are usually thought to be more desirable than those obtained from solid wood. Few woods glue better, and few shrink or distort less when in place. "Spanish Cedar" (_Cedrela odorata_) is a broadleaf wood, and not a conifer as is usually supposed. It is nearly related to, and usually found and cut with, true mahogany. Lindley[62] divides Cedrelecæ into two sub-orders: Swieteniæ, including the true mahoganies, and Cedrelæ, with nine genera and twenty-five species distributed over tropical Asia and America. Prima vera or white mahogany belongs to Bignoniaceæ, which also includes the catalpas. [p120] FOOTNOTES [Footnote 61: Mahogany and mountain mahogany are names applied in the United States to Rhus integrifolia, a native of Lower California and the coast islands, and to the following species of the Rocky Mountain Region (Idaho to Arizona): Cercocarpus ledifolius, Used for fuel. Cercocarpus parvifolius, Used for fuel. Cercocarpus breviflorus, Heavy, hard, not common.] [Footnote 62: John Lindley, Treasury of Botany, p. 243, Part I; also see Gifford, "Forestry and Irrigation," Vol. VIII, No. 4, p. 174; also Correspondence Messrs. Wm. E. Uptegrove & Brother, New York City.] MAHOGANY. _Swietenia mahogani Jacq._ Nomenclature. Mahogany (local and common name). Spanish Mahogany (Cuba, San Domingo, West Indies). Mexican Mahogany (Frontera, Laguna, Santa Anna, and other Mexican ports). Honduras Mahogany (Honduras). Baywood, Madeira, Redwood. Locality. Florida Keys, Bahamas, West Indies, Mexico, Central America, Peru. Features of Tree. Florida specimens forty-five feet in height and two or more feet in diameter. Foreign trees larger. Color, Appearance, or Grain of Wood.