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Canavalia cathartica; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2026-06-14

Canavalia cathartica Thouars

Maunaloa; Ground Jack Bean; Poisonous Sea Bean; Jackbean

Fabaceae · Somalia, Kenya +54

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Canavalia cathartica, photograph (c) Harsha Jayaramaiah, some rights reserved (CC BY)Canavalia cathartica, photograph (c) Harsha Jayaramaiah, some rights reserved (CC BY)Canavalia cathartica, photograph (c) Melissa Mullins, some rights reserved (CC BY)Canavalia cathartica, photograph (c) Gabriel, some rights reserved (CC BY)Canavalia cathartica, photograph (c) Gabriel, some rights reserved (CC BY)Canavalia cathartica, photograph (c) Boson, some rights reserved (CC BY) 71 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
22.8°C
Record low 20.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Feb, Mar, Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,033mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
31–38DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Canavalia cathartica, commonly known as maunaloa in the Hawaiian language, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae. The Hawaiian name translates as long mountain. In English it may also be known as poisonous sea bean, ground jack bean, horse bean, silky sea bean or wild bean. It has a Paleotropical distribution, occurring throughout tropical regions in Asia, Africa, Australia, and many Pacific Islands, and extending just into subtropical areas. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Canavalia cathartica", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,749 mm of 2,267 mm) takes 8 months, October to May. Mean temperature moves 1.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,267 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,749 mm of it October to May. Wettest month January at 287 mm, driest month July at 106 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,369 mm to 3,125 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,033 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,267 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: 31 to 38 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 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 22.8 °C, the absolute minimum 20.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 24.4 °C in July and August (across the grid cells of the range 20.2 °C to 25.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.7 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 22.8 °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: 63 to 65% 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 -12 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 Canavalia cathartica through the yearWarmest months February, March, April and May, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest months July and August, mean nightly low 24.4 °C; 2,267 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.15°20°25°30°35°32.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER20.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 31–38RH 63–65%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 80 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 °C28 / 27–3129 / 27–3129 / 28–3129 / 27–3029 / 27–3028 / 26–3028 / 25–3028 / 25–3028 / 26–3028 / 27–3128 / 27–3128 / 27–32
Night °C25 / 23–2625 / 23–2625 / 23–2626 / 23–2726 / 23–2625 / 21–2624 / 20–2624 / 20–2625 / 21–2625 / 22–2625 / 23–2725 / 23–27
Rain mm287 / 64–417251 / 38–377228 / 74–343175 / 99–338165 / 33–274127 / 6–259106 / 5–279121 / 3–305164 / 5–320192 / 15–321205 / 67–350246 / 104–358
DLI34 / 30–3836 / 31–4136 / 32–4134 / 31–3932 / 27–3631 / 25–3531 / 25–3534 / 30–3737 / 32–4238 / 30–4438 / 28–4436 / 28–40
RH %65 / 62–6865 / 61–6864 / 61–6864 / 62–6764 / 59–6764 / 58–6764 / 58–6763 / 58–6764 / 59–6764 / 58–6864 / 60–6865 / 63–68

Records on both sides of the equator: the 24 cells at least 10° north of it have seasons six months apart and are left out, not combined into a year no place has. These figures are across the 80 cells that remain: the 32 at least 10° south and the 48 within 10° of the equator, which stay in either way.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 80 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (103 records in those cells; 10 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are 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 1770:5675 (1.475, 103.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 20.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 22.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.4 °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 80 distinct grid cells holding 103 of the 139 in-range records (10 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out) on the southern side of the equator (24 cells poleward of 10° north, 32 poleward of 10° south: the two sides' seasons are not combined, and cells within 10° of the equator stay in); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1770:5675 (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 1.50_103.750, lapse-corrected -12 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 14 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.
NativeSomalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Chagos Archipelago, Seychelles, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Hainan, China Southeast, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Bangladesh, India, Laccadive Is., Maldives, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Cocos (Keeling) I., Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Christmas I., Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Northern Territory, Queensland, Fiji, Nauru, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Line Is., Society Is., Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is. · introduced: Mali, Togo, Angola, Mauritius, Réunion, Gilbert Is., Hawaii, Leeward Is. AB Ant · 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 marker24.373, 124.139 · in the densest population, 65 records (14% of those in range)
Kew's description“climbing perennial or shrub” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 459 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 103 of them in the land cells it reads, of 139 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 348 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 268 km away. 264 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 320 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 2° block of the 459 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Canavalia cathartica, photograph 1did not loadCanavalia cathartica, photograph 2did not loadCanavalia cathartica, photograph 3did not loadCanavalia cathartica, photograph 4did not loadCanavalia cathartica, photograph 5did not loadCanavalia cathartica, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Harsha Jayaramaiah, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Melissa Mullins, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Gabriel, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Boson, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Xylocarpus granatum Xylocarpus granatum Apple mangrove Photo: CC BY, Rob FosterRhizophora apiculata Rhizophora apiculata Mangrove Photo: CC BY, Donald DavesneBulbophyllum maxillare Bulbophyllum maxillare Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Cheongweei GanSaccharum officinarum Saccharum officinarum Sugarcane Photo: CC BY-SA, Wallace Carneiro AlmeidaDolichandrone spathacea Dolichandrone spathacea Mangrove trumpet-tree Photo: CC BY, Sayee GirdhariBarringtonia asiatica Barringtonia asiatica Sea putat Photo: CC BY, Shelomi Doyle

Other Canavalia 9 in the reference

Canavalia brasiliensis Canavalia brasiliensis Brazilian jackbean Photo: CC BY, Breno FigueiredoCanavalia ensiformis Canavalia ensiformis Wonderbean Photo: CC BY, Siddarth Machado Canavalia favieri Fabaceae Canavalia gladiata Canavalia gladiata Sword jackbean Photo: CC BY-SA, Dinesh ValkeCanavalia lineata Canavalia lineata Asian beach jackbean Photo: CC BY, Young Jun LeeCanavalia pubescens Canavalia pubescens Jack Bean Photo: CC BY, Forest & Kim StarrCanavalia rosea Canavalia rosea Bay-bean Photo: CC BY, jk6000Canavalia sericea Canavalia sericea Silky jackbean Photo: CC BY, Debra BakerCanavalia villosa Canavalia villosa Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Ricardo Betancourt Sánchez

Names & registers

Also known as Canavalia bouquete; Canavalia bouquetii; Canavalia ensiformis subsp. turgida; Canavalia ensiformis subsp. virosa; Canavalia ensiformis var. turgida and 10 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
Thouars
Native to
Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania +53
Wild records
459 in range · 348 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; 38 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (37 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 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 1.50_103.750, lapse-corrected -12 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 72 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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