Species
+

Chrysobalanus icaco L.

Coco, Coco Plant, Coco Plum, Cocoa Plant

Climate known 60 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

Chrysobalanus icaco, the cocoplum, paradise plum, abajeru or icaco is a low shrub or bushy tree found near sea beaches and inland throughout tropical Africa, tropical Americas and the Caribbean, and in southern Florida and the Bahamas. An evergreen, it is also found as an exotic species on other tropical islands, where it has become a problematic invasive. Although taxonomists disagree on whether Chrysobalanus icaco has multiple subspecies or varieties, it is recognized as having two ecotypes, described as an inland, much less salt-tolerant, and more upright C. icaco var. pellocarpus and a coastal C. icaco var. icaco. Both the ripe fruit of C. icaco, and the seed inside the ridged shell it contains, are considered edible.

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

About the genus · Chrysobalanus

Chrysobalanus is a genus of evergreen perennial shrubs to small trees, described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. It is native to sub-tropical and tropical regions of Africa, Latin America, and Florida.

Text from Wikipedia, “Chrysobalanus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Chrysobalanaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Benin, Gambia, The, Ghana +55
Wild records
1584 in range· 838 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Aug, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1534mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 213 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–40DLI
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 sharp rainy season, May to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.0 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1534 mm a year, wettest June at 213 mm, driest January at 63 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 21.6 °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 Chrysobalanus icaco var. genuinus Hook.f.; Chrysobalanus icaco var. icaco; Prunus icaco Labat.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.0 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

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

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1169 mm of 1534 mm) falls in May to November. The temperature curve is flat, 3.0 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

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 1534 mm a year, wettest June at 213 mm, driest January at 63 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1534 mm a year at the habitat, 1169 mm of it May to November. Wettest month June at 213 mm, driest January at 63 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1187 mm to 2930 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: 27 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 40 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 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

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 21.6 °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 21.6 °C, the absolute minimum 20.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 22.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells 15.2 °C to 24.6 °C), warmest day 29.0 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 21.6 °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: 61 to 65% 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 26 °C in Jan to 29 °C in Aug; mean night from 22 °C in Jan to 25 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1534 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 944 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 20.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 30.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°30.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)20.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 27–40RH 61–65 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 944 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 °C26 / 22–3027 / 23–3027 / 24–3028 / 25–3028 / 26–3129 / 26–3129 / 25–3129 / 25–3129 / 26–3028 / 26–3027 / 25–2926 / 23–29
Night °C22 / 15–2522 / 16–2523 / 17–2523 / 19–2524 / 22–2624 / 22–2625 / 21–2625 / 21–2624 / 22–2624 / 22–2623 / 19–2523 / 17–25
Rain mm63 / 20–21768 / 28–19182 / 32–20981 / 39–269132 / 66–314213 / 80–351180 / 82–298194 / 54–324206 / 65–329146 / 67–34298 / 39–28471 / 33–227
DLI29 / 22–3932 / 27–4036 / 32–4139 / 31–4340 / 28–4337 / 25–4238 / 25–4237 / 27–4133 / 28–3830 / 27–3928 / 23–3827 / 20–38
RH %62 / 58–6761 / 58–6761 / 57–6762 / 57–6864 / 59–6965 / 62–6964 / 62–6964 / 62–6964 / 62–6963 / 60–6963 / 59–6962 / 58–68

Each figure is the median across the 944 grid cells holding the 1536 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 2066:2820 (-13.325, -38.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 20.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 21.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.7 °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 944 distinct grid cells holding the 1536 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2066:2820 (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 -13.50_-38.750, lapse-corrected -14 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 4 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.
NativeBenin, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Angola, Zambia, Florida, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, C. American Pacific Is., El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Turks-Caicos Is., Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North· introduced: Chad, Tanzania, Malawi, Seychelles, India, Vietnam, Malaya, Fiji, Samoa, Marquesas, Society Is., Hawaii
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker26.315, -80.222 · in the densest population, 722 records (46% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1584 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 838 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 24 km away. 59 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 48 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 1584 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Chrysobalanus icacoChrysobalanus icacoChrysobalanus icacoChrysobalanus icacoChrysobalanus icacoChrysobalanus icacoChrysobalanus icacoChrysobalanus icaco

Photographs: (c) Lucas Kaminski, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) John Burnett, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Annie Weissman, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Brandon Corder, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Anthocyanins Present in Selected Tropical Fruits: Acerola, Jambolão, Jussara, and Guajiru
Edy Sousa de Brito, Manuela Cristina Pessanha de Araújo, Ricardo Elesbão Alves, Colleen Carkeet (2007) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Cocoplum (Chrysobalanus icaco L.) anthocyanins exert anti-inflammatory activity in human colon cancer and non-malignant colon cells
Vinícius Paula Venâncio, Paula Cipriano, Hyemee Kim, Lusânia Maria Greggi Antunes (2016) · Food & Function
Genotoxic potentiality of aqueous extract prepared from Chrysobalanus icaco L. leaves
Samara Cristina Ferreira-Machado, M. P. Rodrigues, A.P.M. Nunes, Flávio José da Silva Dantas (2004) · Toxicology Letters
Antidiabetic Effect of the Chrysobalanus icaco L. Aqueous Extract in Rats
Ana Paula de Oliveira Barbosa, Gabriela de Oliveira Silveira, Igor Alexandre Côrtes de Menezes, José Melquiades Rezende Neto (2013) · Journal of Medicinal Food
Determination of myricetin derivatives in Chrysobalanus icaco L. (Chrysobalanaceae)
Wagner Luiz Ramos Barbosa, Amiraldo Peres, Sandra Gallori, Franco Francesco Vincieri (2006) · Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia
Extraction of the essential oil of abajeru (Chrysobalanus icaco) using supercritical CO2
Carmen E. Vargas, Marisa Fernandes Mendes, Débora A. Azevedo, Fernando Luiz Pellegrini Pessoa (2010) · The Journal of Supercritical Fluids
Especies útiles de la selva baja caducifolia en las dunas costeras del centro de Veracruz
Patricia Moreno‐Casasola, Krystina Paradowska (2016) · Madera y Bosques
Aqueous extract of Chrysobalanus icaco leaves, in lower doses, prevent fat gain in obese high-fat fed mice
Pollyanna Alves Secundo White, Luana Mendonça Cercato, Vinicius Batista, Enilton A. Camargo (2015) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Production of biodiesel from the novel non-edible seed of Chrysobalanus icaco using natural heterogeneous catalyst: Modeling and prediction using Artificial Neural Network
Chinwe Priscilla Okonkwo, V.I.E. Ajiwe, Matthew Chiemezie Obiadi, Modestus O. Okwu (2022) · Journal of Cleaner Production
Effects of temperature, UV-light and magnesium on anthocyanin pigmentation in cocoplum leaves
Ada Nissim‐Levi, S. Kagan, Rinat Ovadia, M. Oren-Shami (2003) · The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology
Chrysobalanus icaco L. extract for antiangiogenic potential observation.
Sheila Alves de Paulo, Ilana Teruszkin Balassiano, N Henriques Silva, R Oliveira Castilho (2000) · International Journal of Molecular Medicine

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 155 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.