Love woodworking! Wood description is a slippery thing, particularly when there is a significant profit motive for describing cheaper woods as more expensive ones, and particularly when it is sometimes difficult to discern exactly what wood you are working with. Mahogany is probably the most often misused wood term in the trade. There is really only one true Mahogany - American / Cuban Mahogany: Swietania mahagoni (which is the source of the name "mahogany"). Even though this tree is native to Florida, the majority of the commercial lumber came from Cuba, and with the Castro revolution, all trade in it ceased. Wood dealers went looking for another source, and located the genetically similar (same genus, different species) big leaf (or Honduran) "mahogany" down in South America. Now you can find woods described as African "mahogany" and even Phillipines "mahogany" from tree species that aren't even in the same genus. Unless your wood comes from a pre-1950 source, it probably isn't mahogany, and if it wasn't listed with a genus and species name, you may not ever know what it is.
Probably not a big deal, since I find there are some tropical hardwoods that are as nice if not nicer (in my opinion) than true mahogany. But if you can't sell sapelle for the same price as a wood labelled "mahogany" you will understand how sometimes wood labels get mixed up somewhere along the distribution channel... and suddenly wood warehouses around the wood are FULL of "mahogany" even though the tree is listed as "threatened", has limited geographic distribution, and no significant commercial harvest.
