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Combretum falcatum; photograph Julien Renoult, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYJulien Renoult, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Combretum falcatum (Welw. ex Hiern) Jongkind

Combretaceae · Burundi, Congo +3

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Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
12.2°C
Record low 9.4 °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)
1,816mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
29–34DLI
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
A sharp rainy season, March to May and October to December (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 5 records in 5 grid cells. The records.

About the genus · Combretum

Combretum, the bushwillows or combretums, make up the type genus of the family Combretaceae. The genus comprises about 272 species of trees and shrubs, most of which are native to tropical and southern Africa, about 5 to Madagascar, but there are others that are native to tropical Asia, New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago, Australia, and tropical America.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Combretum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,327 mm of 1,799 mm) falls in March to May and October to December. The temperature curve is flat, 2.9 °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. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,799 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,327 mm of it March to May and October to December. Wettest month November at 259 mm, driest month July at 17 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,417 mm to 2,063 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,816 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,799 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: 29 to 34 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 37).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 12.2 °C, the absolute minimum 9.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 15.0 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 12.2 °C to 19.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.1 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12.2 °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: 61 to 69% 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 +36 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

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 5 records in 5 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Combretum falcatum through the yearWarmest months February, March, April and May, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 15.0 °C; 1,799 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.5°10°15°20°25°30°35°40°36.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER9.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 29–34RH 61–69%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 5 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 / 23–2929 / 24–2929 / 24–2929 / 23–2929 / 23–2928 / 23–2928 / 23–2928 / 23–2828 / 23–2928 / 23–2828 / 23–2828 / 23–29
Night °C19 / 14–2020 / 14–2120 / 15–2120 / 15–2119 / 15–2116 / 13–2015 / 12–2016 / 13–2017 / 13–2019 / 14–2019 / 14–2019 / 14–20
Rain mm124 / 99–148144 / 129–167224 / 213–305243 / 214–275191 / 47–23546 / 1–8917 / 1–3828 / 6–68113 / 18–204256 / 89–349259 / 235–285154 / 129–167
DLI33 / 30–3634 / 31–3733 / 32–3431 / 31–3330 / 29–3331 / 26–3332 / 25–3432 / 26–3432 / 27–3429 / 28–3031 / 28–3132 / 28–33
RH %66 / 64–6765 / 64–6768 / 67–6969 / 68–7067 / 64–6961 / 59–6761 / 57–6662 / 59–6663 / 61–6766 / 65–6968 / 67–7067 / 66–68
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 5 grid cells holding the 5 in-range records, 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 1986:3898 (-9.325, 14.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 9.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 12.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.7 °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 5 distinct grid cells holding 5 of the 5 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1986:3898 (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 -9.50_15.000, lapse-corrected +36 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 766 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.
NativeBurundi, Congo, Gabon, Zaïre, Angola · 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 marker0.954, 13.187 · in the densest population, 33 records (50% of those in range)
Kew's description“scrambling shrub or liana” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 66 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 5 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 65 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 10 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 61 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 66 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

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

Psychotria nigropunctata Rubiaceae Dorstenia psilurus Dorstenia psilurus Moraceae Photo: CC BY-SA, C T JohanssonMiconia albicans Miconia albicans Melastomataceae Photo: CC BY, avocatLockhartia lunifera Lockhartia lunifera Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Shiva PiresMasdevallia weberbaueri Masdevallia weberbaueri Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, User:BotBlnPouteria torta Pouteria torta Sapotaceae Photo: CC BY, Thomaz Ricardo Favreto Sinani

Other Combretum 28 in the reference

Combretum afrum Combretum afrum Combretaceae Photo: CC BY, Christiaan ViljoenCombretum albidum Combretum albidum Combretaceae Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaCombretum apiculatum Combretum apiculatum Red bushwillow Photo: CC BY-SA, Rebecca Ryen-StolsCombretum bracteosum Combretum bracteosum Hiccup-nut Photo: CC BY-SA, Margaret BurgerCombretum celastroides Combretum celastroides Jesse-bush Combretum Photo: CC BY, Mathew ReesCombretum coccineum Combretum coccineum Combretaceae Photo: CC BY, jeanjacquesgodonCombretum collinum Combretum collinum Combretaceae Photo: CC0, rosshawkinsCombretum constrictum Combretum constrictum Powderpuff Combretum Photo: CC BY, Thorsten HackbarthCombretum densiflorum Combretum densiflorum Combretaceae Photo: CC BY, Nguyen-Khanh-Trinh TramCombretum erythrophyllum Combretum erythrophyllum Bush-willow Photo: CC0, author not statedCombretum farinosum Combretum farinosum Combretaceae Photo: CC BY, Andrea GantzerCombretum fruticosum Combretum fruticosum Combretaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López Hernández all 29 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Cacoucia littorea; Combretum sericogyne; Combretum sericogyne var. glabrescens; Quisqualis falcata; Quisqualis falcata var. mussaendiflora and 6 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Kew accepts as species of their own Combretum littoreum; Combretum mussaendiflorum; Combretum pellegrinianum: older names in GBIF's record of this species that Kew's World Checklist accepts as other species. (WCVP, RBG Kew, file of 2026-06-04)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidata

The record

Family
Combretaceae
Described by
(Welw. ex Hiern) Jongkind
Native to
Burundi, Congo, Gabon +2
Wild records
66 in range · 65 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; 4 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (4 at a botanic garden or arboretum; 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 -9.50_15.000, lapse-corrected +36 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikimedia Commons commons nothing to reportasked 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 14 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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