mahogany family

American  

noun

1. the plant family Meliaceae, characterized by tropical and subtropical trees and shrubs having alternate, pinnate leaves, usually branched clusters of flowers, and fruit in the form of a berry or leathery capsule, and including the chinaberry, cedars of the genus Cedrela, and mahoganies of the genera Swietenia and Khaya.

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Example Sentences

Remarkably fine trees, one of which has oil-yielding seeds, and belongs to the mahogany family, grow well in the hollows along the rivulet courses. 

From A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and its tributaries And of the Discovery of Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864 by Livingstone, David