The Fruit is a large, broad, flat pod some 12 inches long and 3 inches wide, a dull green in colour with a smooth surface. It contains some 4 or 5 large oval, flat, pale-brown seeds which are distributed by the violent splitting of the pod, the two halves separating with a report and curling up into a spiral.
Uses.—The young trees are used for house-building poles, but only last for a season as they are very soft and readily attacked by white ants and borer-beetles. Large trees are cut into planks for local use, but the timber is very inferior.
KHAYA SENEGALENSIS Juss.—Madachi. “Mahogany.” MELIACEAE.
This common and well-known Dry Zone Mahogany occurs more or less plentifully all over the north and has a distribution from the rain forest to the French boundary. Its habitat is the banks of streams but its soil and water requirements are comparatively modest and any little valley or moist hollow is sufficient. It abounds in the more northerly “kurmis,” and on the edges of “fadammas” often shows a gregarious habit, clumps of a dozen or so growing close together. Normally it is a small tree some 50-60 feet high with a girth of 6-8 feet, but 70-80 feet and a 10 feet girth are common. Usually not more than 20 feet of its height is clean bole, but no rule can be laid down, as the stem may or may not divide into 2 or 3 large limbs which ascend vertically and form the characteristic open, wide-spreading crown. In the gregarious clumps the tree may have as many as 5 or 6 of these false stems and form an enormous crown. The bole and main limbs show a wavy habit, especially noticeable in smaller trees. The base of the bole is often much swollen by the repeated bark chipping for the bitter tonic.
The Bark is dark grey and covered with small, thin scales. A red sap exudes from the bright crimson slash.
The Wood is a deep red-brown, generally with a pronounced purple tinge which distinguishes it from K. grandifolia, the typical mahogany hue being absent. In transverse section the rings are indistinct colour variations; the pores are small, open, single and scattered about between the long wavy rays which are close together and visible to the naked eye. In vertical section the pores are open and dark coloured, the grain showing as waved bands of varying depth of colour speckled with the pores. The wood is very hard, sometimes badly cross-grained and tough, but at others sound and fairly straight, enabling it to be sawn and planed fairly easily. It is very apt to pick up, but the finished surface takes a good polish. The pore contents glisten. The sapwood is grey with a purplish tinge. The weight is up to 60 lbs. a cubic foot.
The Leaves are pinnate with 4-6 pairs of leaflets. The leaves of young trees will bear as many as 10 leaflets. The leaf is bright and shiny when young but darkens and dulls and the greyish under surface is typical.
The Flowers are in lax panicles amongst the end leaves and are found from December to April, earlier in some parts. The panicles are 6-8 inches long and the small flowers are white with 4 sepals and petals and 8 stamens whose filaments are united to form a crown round the knobbed pistil. The tree often flowers out of season.