What is "swietenia"

Swietenia \Swie*te"ni*a\, n. [NL. Named after Gerard Van Sweiten, physician to Maria Theresa of Austria.] (Bot.) A genus of meliaceous trees consisting of one species ( Sweitenia Mahogoni), the mahogany tree.

Swietenia is a genus of trees in the chinaberry family, Meliaceae. It occurs natively in the Neotropics, from southern Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America south to Bolivia. The genus is named for Dutch-Austrian physician Gerard van Swieten (1700-1772). The wood of Swietenia trees is known as mahogany.