Short answers, pulled from the story.
The genus Swietenia contains three species that qualify as genuine mahogany: Honduran or big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), West Indian or Cuban mahogany (Swetenia mahagoni), and Swietenia humilis. Other trees marketed as mahogany belong to different genera such as Khaya or Shorea.
The term appeared in print as the name of a river in 1661 before finally developing into English mahogany between 1655 and 1670. F. Bruce Lamb proposed that Yoruba and Igbo people brought to Jamaica identified local Swietenia trees as m'oganwo which developed from the Yoruba oganwo meaning one which is the tallest or most high.
Importations of mahogany into England reached more than 30,000 tons in 1788 marking the peak year of the 18th century trade. By 1740 importations had already reached 525 tons per annum while over 90 percent of imports until the 1760s came from Jamaica.
S. humilis was placed on CITES Appendix II in 1975 followed by S. mahagoni in 1992. The most abundant species S. macrophylla moved to Appendix III in 1995 and then to Appendix II in 2003.
Mahogany serves as a tonewood often used for acoustic guitars electric guitar bodies and drum shells. Guitars featuring mahogany include many acoustic models from Martin Taylor and Gibson along with Gibson electric guitars such as the Les Paul and SG.