Calodendrum capense (L.fil.) Thunb.
Cape Chestnut, Cape-chestnut, Wild Chest Nut, isau
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Calodendrum capense, the Cape chestnut, is an African tree which was first studied at The Cape in South Africa and cultivated widely for its prolific flower display. The tree obtained the common name of "Cape chestnut" because explorer William Burchell saw a resemblance to the horse chestnut in terms of flowers and fruit, though the two are not closely related.
Text from Wikipedia, “Calodendrum capense”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Calodendrum
Calodendrum is a genus of medium-sized evergreen trees comprising two species from Africa. Calodendrum capense, the Cape chestnut, is a well known tree that is widely cultivated, while Calodendrum eickii is a rare forest tree from Tanzania. The botanical name comes from Greek, kalos means beautiful and dendrum means tree. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Calodendrum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Dictamnus calodendrum Poir.; Dictamnus capensis L.fil.; Pallasia capensis Christm.; Pallassia capensis Christm.; Tarenna papyracea Burtt Davy.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, southern).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (561 mm of 768 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.1 °C against a yearly mean of 17.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 768 mm a year, wettest January at 109 mm, driest July at 23 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
768 mm a year at the habitat, 561 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 109 mm, driest July at 23 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 556 mm to 1141 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 42 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 42 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).
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.
Warmth and air Cold floor 3.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 3.2 °C, the absolute minimum 0.0 °C, 1 frost night in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 40.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 8.3 °C in July (across the envelope cells 3.3 °C to 13.1 °C), warmest day 25.8 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 3.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 62% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 26 / 23–29 | 26 / 23–29 | 25 / 22–28 | 23 / 21–26 | 21 / 19–24 | 19 / 16–22 | 19 / 16–22 | 21 / 17–23 | 22 / 18–26 | 23 / 19–27 | 24 / 21–27 | 25 / 22–28 |
| Night °C | 17 / 13–20 | 17 / 13–21 | 16 / 13–20 | 14 / 10–18 | 11 / 7–16 | 9 / 4–14 | 8 / 3–13 | 9 / 5–14 | 11 / 8–15 | 13 / 10–16 | 14 / 11–18 | 16 / 13–19 |
| Rain mm | 109 / 47–159 | 90 / 40–146 | 87 / 57–128 | 55 / 35–167 | 31 / 13–112 | 25 / 7–62 | 23 / 3–59 | 35 / 6–80 | 38 / 13–77 | 75 / 44–111 | 101 / 61–140 | 99 / 50–146 |
| DLI | 41 / 36–47 | 39 / 35–43 | 34 / 31–38 | 27 / 25–33 | 23 / 20–31 | 21 / 17–28 | 22 / 18–28 | 26 / 23–32 | 31 / 29–39 | 37 / 32–41 | 40 / 34–45 | 42 / 36–48 |
| RH % | 62 / 56–66 | 62 / 55–66 | 62 / 56–65 | 61 / 55–64 | 57 / 51–62 | 54 / 50–60 | 54 / 49–60 | 56 / 48–60 | 58 / 47–62 | 60 / 52–63 | 61 / 55–65 | 62 / 56–65 |
Each figure is the median across the 501 grid cells holding the 762 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2471:4116 (-33.575, 25.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 0.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 3.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 40.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 501 distinct grid cells holding the 762 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2471:4116 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -33.50_25.625, lapse-corrected +63 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 303 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Shaun Swanepoel, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Brian du Preez, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2).
Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Calodendrum capense, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Grewia occidentalis Common Cross-berry Raisin
Plectranthus verticillatus Gossip Spurflower
Dietes iridioides Painted Lady
Ochna serrulata Bird's Eye Bush
Aloe maculata Broadleaf Aloe
Ledebouria revoluta Wave-Leaved HyacinthHistory & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 39 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








