Species
+

Cleyera japonica Thunb.

Bird claw cleyera, Japanese cleyera, Japanese cleyera, Sakaki, Sakaki

Climate known 67 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

Cleyera japonica (sakaki) is a flowering evergreen tree native to warm areas of Japan, Taiwan, China, Myanmar, Nepal, and northern India. It can reach a height of 10 m (33 ft). The leaves are 6–10 cm (2.4–3.9 in) long, smooth, oval, leathery, shiny and dark green above, yellowish-green below, with deep furrows for the leaf stem. The bark is dark reddish brown and smooth. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Cleyera japonica”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Cleyera

Cleyera is a plant genus consisting of 21 species of tender, evergreen shrubs to small trees, mostly native to Mexico and Central America, and one from Eastern Asia. In the APG III system it is placed in the family Pentaphylacaceae.

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

Family
Pentaphylacaceae
Described by
Thunb.
Native to
China South-Central, China Southeast, Tibet +13
Wild records
1155 in range· 743 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Aug, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2149mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 305 mm (CHELSA)
Light
16–34DLI
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 summer growing season, March to September in the northern hemisphere (March to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 2149 mm a year, wettest June at 305 mm, driest December at 60 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 34 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -3.4 °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 Adinandra chingii Metcalf; Adinandra japonica (Thunb.) T.L.Ming; Adinandra kweichovensis Hu; Adinandra kweichowensis Hu; Cleyera fortunei Hook.fil. and 37 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, March to September in the northern hemisphere (March to September at the habitat, northern).

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 (1643 mm of 2149 mm) falls in March to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.8 °C against a yearly mean of 16.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to March.

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 2149 mm a year, wettest June at 305 mm, driest December at 60 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2149 mm a year at the habitat, 1643 mm of it March to September. Wettest month June at 305 mm, driest December at 60 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1436 mm to 3979 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: 16 to 34 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 34 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 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

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 -3.4 °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 -3.4 °C, the absolute minimum -8.5 °C, about 51 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.3 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 3.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells -1.8 °C to 13.0 °C), warmest day 28.5 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -3.4 °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: 59 to 67% 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 10 °C in Jan to 29 °C in Aug; mean night from 3 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2149 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 720 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -8.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.3 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost35.3° 99th-percentile day (undated)-8.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 16–34RH 59–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 720 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 °C10 / 6–1711 / 7–1814 / 10–2019 / 16–2322 / 19–2725 / 22–2928 / 24–3229 / 25–3226 / 23–2921 / 18–2517 / 14–2212 / 9–19
Night °C3 / -2–134 / -1–147 / 2–1512 / 7–1916 / 12–2219 / 16–2423 / 18–2623 / 18–2520 / 16–2415 / 11–2110 / 6–185 / 1–15
Rain mm77 / 42–218107 / 50–254168 / 84–245190 / 114–263243 / 146–366305 / 188–525252 / 159–448233 / 135–466252 / 102–553164 / 72–42098 / 54–32760 / 35–236
DLI17 / 14–2020 / 15–2425 / 19–2931 / 24–3432 / 27–3631 / 28–3434 / 30–3833 / 30–3527 / 25–3023 / 20–2718 / 16–2216 / 13–20
RH %60 / 55–6861 / 55–6961 / 57–6962 / 58–6863 / 60–6966 / 63–7067 / 62–7166 / 62–7064 / 61–7061 / 59–6960 / 57–6859 / 56–67

Each figure is the median across the 720 grid cells holding the 1126 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 1091:6392 (35.425, 139.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -8.5 °C, 1st-percentile night -3.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.3 °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 720 distinct grid cells holding the 1126 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1091:6392 (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 35.50_139.375, lapse-corrected -215 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 18 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.
NativeChina South-Central, China Southeast, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, Nepal, West Himalaya, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines
Kew's description“tree” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker24.877, 121.563 · in the densest population, 411 records (36% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1155 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 743 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 107 km away. 30 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 29 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 1155 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cleyera japonicaCleyera japonicaCleyera japonicaCleyera japonicaCleyera japonicaCleyera japonicaCleyera japonicaCleyera japonica

Photographs: (c) 胡正恆(Jackson Hu), some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) harum.koh, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) Yoshihiro Tokue, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Cheng-Te Hsu, 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 Cleyera japonica, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antioxidative Chemical Constituents from the Stems of Cleyera japonica Thunberg
Jung Eun Kim, Sang Suk Kim, Chang‐Gu Hyun, Nam Ho Lee (2012) · International Journal of Pharmacology
Screening of DPPH radical scavenging and antimicrobial activity of extracts from local some native plants
Hyun‐Soo Kim, Joungjwa Ahn, Tae-Ho Choi, Tae‐Young Hwang (2014) · Korean Journal of Food Preservation
Stand Dynamics and Biomass Increment in a Lucidophyllous Forest over a 28-Year Period in Central Japan
Siyu Chen, Akira Komiyama, Shogo Kato, Ruoming Cao (2017) · Forests
Age Structure and Growth Pattern of an Endangered Species, Amentotaxus formosana Li
Chinsu Lin, Ming‐Hsun Chan, Feng‐Sheng Chen, Yanan Wang (2007) · Journal of Integrative Plant Biology
Fungicidal Activity of Domestic Plant Extracts against Six Major Phytopathogenic Fungi
Il Kwon Park, Sang Gil Lee, Ji Doo Park, Sang Chul Shin (2003) · The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science

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