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Astrocaryum mexicanum; photograph (c) Jose Manuel Ramos Martinez, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Jose Manuel Ramos Martinez, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-02-03

Astrocaryum mexicanum Liebm. ex Mart.

Arecaceae · Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest +5

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Astrocaryum mexicanum, photograph (c) Jose Manuel Ramos Martinez, some rights reserved (CC BY)Astrocaryum mexicanum, photograph (c) Jose Manuel Ramos Martinez, some rights reserved (CC BY)Astrocaryum mexicanum, photograph (c) Jose Manuel Ramos Martinez, some rights reserved (CC BY)Astrocaryum mexicanum, photograph (c) Jose Manuel Ramos Martinez, some rights reserved (CC BY)Astrocaryum mexicanum, photograph (c) Oscar Israel Rodríguez Ortiz, some rights reserved (CC BY)Astrocaryum mexicanum, photograph (c) Oscar Israel Rodríguez Ortiz, some rights reserved (CC BY) 59 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
14.3°C
Record low 10.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,624mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
23–41DLI
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 November, 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

Astrocaryum mexicanum, the chocho palm, cohune palm, or chapay, is a species of cocosoid palm in the family Arecaceae, native to Mexico and parts of Central America. It is very long-lived for a palm, reaching 140 years. Local people harvest its young inflorescences, its seeds, and its hearts for food. Covered with stout spines, it is hardy to USDA zone 10a, and is occasionally planted as an ornamental in places such as Hawaii and Southern California.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Astrocaryum mexicanum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,913 mm of 2,532 mm) falls in June to November, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 25.0 °C against a yearly mean of 24.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to May.

Rain

2,532 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,913 mm of it June to November. Wettest month September at 409 mm, driest month March at 59 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,735 mm to 3,318 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,624 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,532 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: 23 to 41 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 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 14.3 °C, the absolute minimum 10.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 17.6 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 14.9 °C to 19.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 30.8 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.3 °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: 61 to 70% 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 -319 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 Astrocaryum mexicanum through the yearWarmest month May, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 17.6 °C; 2,532 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.5°10°15°20°25°30°35°40°45°39.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER10.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 23–41RH 61–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 145 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 °C25 / 22–2626 / 23–2828 / 25–3030 / 27–3231 / 27–3329 / 26–3129 / 25–3129 / 25–3128 / 25–3027 / 24–2826 / 23–2725 / 22–26
Night °C18 / 15–2018 / 15–2019 / 16–2121 / 18–2323 / 19–2423 / 20–2422 / 19–2422 / 19–2422 / 19–2421 / 18–2320 / 17–2218 / 16–21
Rain mm119 / 72–18693 / 56–16159 / 34–8664 / 39–89130 / 94–169307 / 222–437330 / 199–495365 / 230–519409 / 277–565297 / 201–446205 / 120–318154 / 90–261
DLI24 / 22–2729 / 27–3236 / 35–3841 / 38–4240 / 37–4335 / 32–3735 / 31–4035 / 30–3931 / 27–3428 / 25–3025 / 23–2823 / 21–26
RH %67 / 64–7165 / 62–6962 / 59–6661 / 58–6662 / 59–6767 / 64–7169 / 63–7469 / 64–7470 / 67–7469 / 66–7468 / 65–7268 / 65–72
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 145 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (262 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 1455:1714 (17.225, -94.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.6 °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 145 distinct grid cells holding 262 of the 263 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1455:1714 (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 17.00_-94.375, lapse-corrected -319 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 145 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.
NativeMexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua · 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 marker18.583, -95.075 · in the densest population, 176 records (51% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 344 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 262 of them in the land cells it reads, of 263 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 177 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 13 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 81 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 of the 344 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Astrocaryum mexicanum, photograph 1did not loadAstrocaryum mexicanum, photograph 2did not loadAstrocaryum mexicanum, photograph 3did not loadAstrocaryum mexicanum, photograph 4did not loadAstrocaryum mexicanum, photograph 5did not loadAstrocaryum mexicanum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Jose Manuel Ramos Martinez, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Oscar Israel Rodríguez Ortiz, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

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

Miconia petiolaris Miconia petiolaris Melastomataceae Photo: CC BY, Eduardo Chacón MadrigalChamaedorea ernesti-augusti Chamaedorea ernesti-augusti Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, josebarrientosAnthurium pedatoradiatum Anthurium pedatoradiatum Araceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel Pineda VeraGongora unicolor Gongora unicolor Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, José Javier Barrios FloresChysis bractescens Chysis bractescens Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, J Alejandro González CastilloDalechampia spathulata Dalechampia spathulata Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, alejandrozab

Other Astrocaryum 7 in the reference

Astrocaryum alatum Astrocaryum alatum Arecaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedAstrocaryum chambira Astrocaryum chambira Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, Joe crutwellAstrocaryum jauari Astrocaryum jauari Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, Juan Manuel Cardona Granda Astrocaryum malybo Arecaceae Astrocaryum murumuru Astrocaryum murumuru Arecaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedAstrocaryum standleyanum Astrocaryum standleyanum Black palm Photo: CC BY, Nathan Van CootenAstrocaryum tucuma Astrocaryum tucuma Tucum palm Photo: CC BY, André Ambrozio

Names & registers

Also known as Astrocaryum chichon; Astrocaryum cohune; Astrocaryum rostratum; Astrocaryum warscewiczii; Astrocaryum warszewiczii and 2 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Arecaceae
Described by
Liebm. ex Mart.
Native to
Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast +4
Wild records
344 in range · 177 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; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a botanic garden or arboretum; 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 17.00_-94.375, lapse-corrected -319 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 41 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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