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Abelmoschus manihot; photograph (c) Jhonatan Matheus, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Jhonatan Matheus, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-01-13

Abelmoschus manihot (L.) Medik.

Sunset muskmallow; Bele; Aibika; Tongan spinach

Malvaceae · China South-Central, China North-Central +22

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Abelmoschus manihot, photograph (c) Ashwin Srinivasan, some rights reserved (CC BY)Abelmoschus manihot, photograph (c) Ashwin Srinivasan, some rights reserved (CC BY)Abelmoschus manihot, photograph (c) Jhonatan Matheus, some rights reserved (CC BY)Abelmoschus manihot, photograph (c) Jhonatan Matheus, some rights reserved (CC BY)Abelmoschus manihot, photograph (c) haemanthus, some rights reserved (CC BY)Abelmoschus manihot, photograph (c) Jhonatan Matheus, some rights reserved (CC BY) 53 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
9.3°C
Record low 5.0 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,847mm
6 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–45DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Abelmoschus manihot, commonly known as aibika, is a flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It is also known as the sunset muskmallow, sunset hibiscus, or hibiscus manihot. It is a tropical subshrub or shrub native to Asia, New Guinea, and Queensland, Australia. It is cultivated and eaten as a leaf vegetable, among other uses.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Abelmoschus manihot", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Abelmoschus

Abelmoschus is a genus of about fifteen species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae, native to tropical Africa, Asia and northern Australia. It was formerly included within Hibiscus, but is now classified as a distinct genus. The genus name derives from Arabic meaning 'father of musk' or 'source of musk' referring to the scented seeds.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Abelmoschus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,070 mm of 1,260 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 25.3 °C against a yearly mean of 24.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Rain

1,260 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,070 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 377 mm, driest months (2 at 6 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 867 mm to 3,936 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,847 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,260 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 45 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 9.3 °C, the absolute minimum 5.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 42.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 14.6 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 6.2 °C to 24.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.1 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 9.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 53 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +34 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Abelmoschus manihot through the yearWarmest months April and May, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 14.6 °C; 1,260 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°50°42.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER5.0° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter02004006008001000mm rainDLI 25–45RH 53–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 105 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 15–3028 / 16–3030 / 18–3431 / 21–3831 / 22–3929 / 22–3627 / 22–3127 / 22–3028 / 22–3229 / 21–3329 / 18–3128 / 16–30
Night °C15 / 6–2416 / 7–2419 / 10–2422 / 12–2523 / 15–2724 / 16–2724 / 15–2623 / 16–2522 / 15–2521 / 13–2518 / 10–2416 / 7–24
Rain mm6 / 1–3848 / 1–3796 / 1–3819 / 1–24744 / 7–319190 / 55–596377 / 43–992295 / 31–725208 / 22–47684 / 20–17024 / 9–1679 / 1–236
DLI33 / 21–3737 / 24–3942 / 28–4445 / 29–4743 / 27–4830 / 24–3825 / 22–3225 / 21–3230 / 26–3835 / 26–4232 / 22–4230 / 20–40
RH %54 / 47–6854 / 44–6956 / 41–6860 / 41–6862 / 48–6966 / 55–7368 / 62–7568 / 63–7465 / 60–7260 / 49–6756 / 46–6753 / 47–66
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 105 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (122 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1399:5102 (20.025, 75.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 9.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 42.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 105 distinct grid cells holding 122 of the 123 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1399:5102 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 20.00_75.000, lapse-corrected +34 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 575 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Christmas I., Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Queensland · introduced: Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Gabon, Zaïre, Réunion, Oman, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Solomon Is., Fiji, New Caledonia, Santa Cruz Is., Vanuatu, Cook Is., Line Is., Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker24.681, 105.335 · in the densest population, 151 records (32% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub or shrub” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 469 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 122 of them in the land cells it reads, of 123 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 296 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1003 km away. 353 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 346 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 469 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Abelmoschus manihot, photograph 1did not loadAbelmoschus manihot, photograph 2did not loadAbelmoschus manihot, photograph 3did not loadAbelmoschus manihot, photograph 4did not loadAbelmoschus manihot, photograph 5did not loadAbelmoschus manihot, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Ashwin Srinivasan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Jhonatan Matheus, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) haemanthus, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Celastrus paniculatus Celastrus paniculatus Oriental bittersweet Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaHolarrhena pubescens Holarrhena pubescens Bitter Oleander Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaLimnophila heterophylla Limnophila heterophylla Diverse-leaved Marshweed Photo: CC BY-SA, Ruppia2000Cynanchum tunicatum Cynanchum tunicatum Dog Strangling Vine Photo: CC BY, Cheongweei GanFicus amplissima Ficus amplissima Indian Bat Fig Photo: CC BY, rajesh rockyAstianthus viminalis Astianthus viminalis Bignoniaceae Photo: CC BY, nasua

Other Abelmoschus 3 in the reference

Abelmoschus esculentus Abelmoschus esculentus Okra Photo: CC BY, Greg III EsperaAbelmoschus moschatus Abelmoschus moschatus Musk okra Photo: CC0, author not stated Abelmoschus rhodopetalus Malvaceae

Names & registers

Also known as Abelmoschus maculatus; Abelmoschus manihot f. platidactylis; Abelmoschus manihot var. manihot; Bamia manihot; Hibiscus manihot var. typicus. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Malvaceae
Described by
(L.) Medik.
Native to
China South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast +21
Wild records
469 in range · 296 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 17 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (7 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 4 at a herbarium, 6 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 20.00_75.000, lapse-corrected +34 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 99 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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