Timber yielding. The bark is astringent, bitter and febrifuge. An infusion is used to treat diarrhoea and fevers.

Mahagony are deciduous trees; bark brown. Leaves paripinnate, alternate; leaflets  opposite or subopposite; lamina, obliquely ovate-lanceolate, apex acuminate, margin entire, glabrous, shining above, dull beneath. Flowers bisexual, pale yellow; calyx lobes 5, lobes; petals 5, oblong; staminal tube apically 10-lobed; stamens 10; ovary superior, 5-celled, ovules many. Fruit a capsule, oblong-globose, 5-valved, woody, rusty outside; seeds many, winged.