Species
+

Ceratonia siliqua L.

Carob, Carob Bean, Carob Tree Bean, Locust Bean

Climate known 68 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

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

The carob is a flowering evergreen tree or shrub in the Caesalpinioideae subfamily of the legume family, Fabaceae. The carob tree is native to the Mediterranean region and the Middle East. It is widely cultivated for its edible fruit, which takes the form of seed pods, and as an ornamental tree in gardens and landscapes. Spain is its largest producer, followed by Italy and Morocco.

Text from Wikipedia, “Carob”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Ceratonia

Ceratonia, also known as carobs, is a small genus of flowering trees in the pea family, Fabaceae, endemic to the Mediterranean region and the Middle East. Its best known member is the carob tree, which is cultivated for its edible pods and has been widely introduced to regions with similar climates. The genus was long considered monotypic, but a second species, Ceratonia oreothauma, was identified in 1979 from Oman and Somalia. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Ceratonia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
France, Sardegna, Spain +17
Wild records
1856 in range· 1366 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Jul, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
622mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Dec 104 mm (CHELSA)
Light
14–48DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to February and April in the northern hemisphere (October to February and April at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 622 mm a year, wettest December at 104 mm, driest July at 4 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 48 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 5.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Ceratonia coriacea Salisb.; Ceratonia inermis Stokes; Ceratonia siliqua var. latissima Risso; Ceratonia siliqua var. siccata Risso; Ceratonia siliqua var. sterilis Risso and 1 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to February and April in the northern hemisphere (October to February and April at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (464 mm of 622 mm) falls in October to February and April, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 13.4 °C against a yearly mean of 17.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: April to August and October.

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 622 mm a year, wettest December at 104 mm, driest July at 4 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

622 mm a year at the habitat, 464 mm of it October to February and April. Wettest month December at 104 mm, driest July at 4 mm; 1 month under 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 464 mm to 1005 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern 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: 14 to 48 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 48 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 11, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

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 5.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 5.5 °C, the absolute minimum 1.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 28.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 6.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells 3.4 °C to 10.3 °C), warmest day 28.7 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 5.5 °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.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 60% 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

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 13 °C in Jan to 29 °C in Jul; mean night from 7 °C in Jan to 21 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 622 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 996 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 1.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 28.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°28.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)1.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 14–48RH 55–60 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 996 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C13 / 11–1514 / 11–1616 / 13–1918 / 16–2122 / 19–2526 / 23–3029 / 26–3329 / 26–3226 / 23–2922 / 19–2517 / 15–2014 / 12–16
Night °C7 / 3–107 / 4–109 / 6–1211 / 8–1314 / 11–1618 / 15–2020 / 18–2321 / 18–2318 / 16–2115 / 12–1811 / 8–158 / 5–12
Rain mm74 / 38–17261 / 36–13551 / 33–8755 / 25–8339 / 11–6314 / 2–364 / 1–199 / 1–3541 / 6–8477 / 36–12093 / 53–157104 / 45–184
DLI16 / 13–1922 / 19–2431 / 28–3339 / 35–4144 / 41–4748 / 45–5048 / 45–5143 / 39–4634 / 30–3824 / 21–2817 / 14–2114 / 11–17
RH %60 / 57–6259 / 56–6158 / 55–6057 / 54–6157 / 53–6156 / 51–6255 / 49–6257 / 50–6258 / 53–6159 / 57–6260 / 56–6260 / 57–63

Each figure is the median across the 996 grid cells holding the 1849 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 1028:3594 (38.575, -0.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 1.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 5.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.9 °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 996 distinct grid cells holding the 1849 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1028:3594 (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 38.50_0.000, lapse-corrected +231 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 333 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeFrance, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Sicilia, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Sinai, Turkey· introduced: Germany, Baleares, Corse, Portugal, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Madeira, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, Namibia, Northern Provinces, Transcaucasus, Iraq, Yemen, China Southeast, India, Pakistan, New South Wales, South Australia, Tubuai Is., California, Mexico Southwest, Trinidad-Tobago, Peru
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker36.759, -5.365 · in the densest population, 665 records (36% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1856 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 1366 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 43 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 7 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1856 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Ceratonia siliquaCeratonia siliquaCeratonia siliquaCeratonia siliquaCeratonia siliquaCeratonia siliquaCeratonia siliquaCeratonia siliqua

Photographs: (c) Eleftherios Katsillis, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); no rights reserved · CC0 (3).

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 Ceratonia siliqua, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antioxidant Activity of Polyphenols in Carob Pods
Shigenori Kumazawa, Masa Taniguchi, Yasuyuki Suzuki, Masayo Shimura (2001) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Will Elevated Carbon Dioxide Concentration Amplify the Benefits of Nitrogen Fixation in Legumes?
Alistair Rogers, Elizabeth A. Ainsworth, Andrew D. B. Leakey (2009) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Chemical composition, cytotoxicity effect and antimicrobial activity of Ceratonia siliqua essential oil with preservative effects against Listeria inoculated in minced beef meat
Anis Ben Hsouna, Mohamed Trigui, Riadh Ben Mansour, Raoudha Jarraya (2011) · International Journal of Food Microbiology
Determination of Chemical Composition of Carob (Ceratonia siliqua): Protein, Fat, Carbohydrates, and Tannins
Rossella Avallone, Maria Plessi, Mario Baraldi, Agar Monzani (1997) · Journal of Food Composition and Analysis
Identification and Quantification of Polyphenols in Carob Fruits (Ceratonia siliquaL.) and Derived Products by HPLC-UV-ESI/MSn
Menelaos Papagiannopoulos, Hans Rainer Wollseifen, Annett Mellenthin, B. Haber (2004) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Ethnopharmacological and Ethnobotanical study of Medicinal plants in the High Atlas Central, Morocco
Souad Belhaj, Jamila Dahmani, Nadia Belahbib, Lahcen Zidane (2020) · Ethnobotany Research and Applications
Effect of a Daily Supplementation of Poly(ethylene glycol) on Intake and Digestion of Tannin-Containing Leaves (Ceratonia siliqua) by Sheep
Nissim Silanikove, Zafrira Nitsan, Avi Perevolotsky (1994) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Polyethylene glycol as a means for reducing the impact of condensed tannins in carob pulp: effects on lamb growth performance and meat quality.
Alessandro Priolo, G. C. Waghorn, Massimiliano Lanza, L. Biondi (2000) · Journal of Animal Science
Ruminal biohydrogenation as affected by tannins in vitro
Valentina Vasta, H.P.S. Makkar, Marcello Mele, Alessandro Priolo (2008) · British Journal Of Nutrition
Locust bean gum: Exploring its potential for biopharmaceutical applications
Ana Grenha, Marita Dionísio (2012) · Journal of Pharmacy And Bioallied Sciences

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.

History & 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 answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata 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: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.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 answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 44 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.