Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus Swietenia, indigenous to the Americas and part of the pantropical chinaberry family, Meliaceae. Mahogany is used commercially for a wide variety of goods, due to its coloring and durable nature. It is naturally found within the Americas, but has also been imported to plantations across Asia and Oceania. The mahogany trade may have begun as early as the 16th century and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries. In certain countries, mahogany is considered an invasive species.
Dipterocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines. The greatest diversity of Dipterocarpaceae occurs in Borneo.
Shorea robusta, the sal tree, sāla, shala, sakhua, or sarai, is a species of tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The tree is native to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibet and across the Himalayan regions.
Doona is a genus of flowering plants in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It includes ten species of trees endemic to Sri Lanka.
Shorea is a genus of about 196 species of mainly rainforest trees in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The genus is named after Sir John Shore, the governor-general of the British East India Company, 1793–1798. The timber of trees of the genus is sold under the common names lauan, luan, lawaan, meranti, seraya, balau, bangkirai, and Philippine mahogany.
Alstonia macrophylla, the hard alstonia, hard milkwood or big-leaved macrophyllum, is a species of plant in the family Apocynaceae.
Shorea acuminata is a species of plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It grows naturally in Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia.
Doona affinis is a species of flowering plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is a tree endemic to Sri Lanka, where it grows in the remaining lowland rain forests in the island's southwest, often in deep rich soils on hillsides.
Doona congestiflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is a tree endemic to Sri Lanka.
Doona cordifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is a tree endemic to Sri Lanka, commonly known as red doon. It is native to southwestern Sri Lanka, where it is a canopy tree in remaining lowland humid evergreen rain forest.
Doona disticha is a species of flowering plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is a small tree endemic to Sri Lanka. It is native to the remaining lowland rain forests of southwestern Sri Lanka. It is threatened by overharvesting for timber, and by habitat loss by clearance of forest land for tea plantations.
Doona gardneri is a species of flowering plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is a tree endemic to Sri Lanka. It is commonly known as red doon in English and rath dun in Sinhalese. It is a large tree native to lower montane rain forest, where it prefers deep, well-drained soils. It grows in disjunct subpopulations at Ensalwatta, Adam's Peak, and Loolkandura at about 1,000 meters elevation.
Shorea macrophylla is a species of plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is a tree endemic to Borneo.
Doona ovalifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is a tree endemic to Sri Lanka. It is known as pini-beraliya in Sinhala. It grows along shallow streams in the remaining lowland rain forests of southwestern Sri Lanka. The tree has been extirpated from its original collection locations of the 1860s. Populations were recently found at Ayagama (2020) and Kelinkanda (2023).
Doona trapezifolia, known as තිනිය දුන් in Sinhala, is a species of flowering plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is a tree endemic to Sri Lanka. It is native to the remaining lowland rain forests and sometimes montane rain forests in southwestern Sri Lanka, usually on deep soils.
Doona venulosa is a species of plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is a tree endemic to Sri Lanka. It is native to the remaining lowland rain forests of southwestern Sri Lanka, where it grows isolated patches on well-drained soil.
Shorea zeylanica is a species of flowering plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is a tree endemic to Sri Lanka. It is a canopy tree in the remaining lowland evergreen rain forests of southwestern Sri Lanka, becoming an emergent tree at higher elevations.
Kanneliya–Dediyagala–Nakiyadeniya or KDN is a forest complex in southern Sri Lanka. The forest complex designated as a biosphere reserve in 2004 by UNESCO. The KDN complex is the last large remaining rainforest in Sri Lanka other than Sinharaja. This forest area has been identified as one of the floristically richest areas in South Asia. The forest complex is situated 35 km northwest of city of Galle. The rain forest is a major catchment area for two of the most important rivers in southern Sri Lanka, the Gin and Nilwala Rivers. This biosphere reserve harbors many plants and animal species endemic to Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lanka lowland rain forests represents Sri Lanka's Tropical rainforests below 1,000 m (3,281 ft) in elevation in the southwestern part of the island. The year-around warm, wet climate together with thousands years of isolation from mainland India have resulted in the evolution of numerous plants and animal species that can only be found in rain forests in Sri Lanka. The thick forest canopy is made up of over 150 species of trees, some of the emergent layer reaching as high as 45 m (148 ft). The lowland rain forests accounts for 2.14 percent of Sri Lanka's land area. This ecoregion is the home of the jungle shrew, a small endemic mammal of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has the highest density of amphibian species worldwide. Many of these, including 250 species of tree frogs, live in these rain forests.
