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Combretum kraussii; photograph (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) CC BY-SA(c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · observed growing wild · 2025-07-05

Combretum kraussii Hochst.

Forest Bushwillow; Bossvaderlandswilg; Bush willow; Red Leaf Bushwillow

Combretaceae · Mozambique, Cape Provinces +3

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Combretum kraussii, photograph (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Combretum kraussii, photograph (c) Sunčana Bradley, some rights reserved (CC BY)Combretum kraussii, photograph (c) Sunčana Bradley, some rights reserved (CC BY)Combretum kraussii, photograph (c) Ferncliffe forest wilding, some rights reserved (CC BY)Combretum kraussii, photograph (c) Ferncliffe forest wilding, some rights reserved (CC BY)Combretum kraussii, photograph (c) Ferncliffe forest wilding, some rights reserved (CC BY) 59 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
3.4°C
Record low -0.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Jan, Feb, Mar and Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
952mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
22–38DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes April to September (October to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Combretum kraussii, the forest bushwillow, is a medium-sized to large tree in the family Combretaceae. It is found in eastern South Africa, Eswatini and southern Mozambique, in the vicinity of forests. The specific name commemorates Dr. F. Krauss who undertook a collecting trip to South Africa from 1838 to 1840.

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

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 summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (718 mm of 908 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.2 °C against a yearly mean of 17.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

Rain

908 mm in the median year at the habitat, 718 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 139 mm, driest month July at 18 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 749 mm to 1,201 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 952 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 908 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 22 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 19, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 3.4 °C, the absolute minimum -0.8 °C, 2 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 6.8 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 3.8 °C to 12.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.4 °C in January and February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 3.4 °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: 54 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 +67 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, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Combretum kraussii through the yearWarmest months January, February, March and December, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 6.8 °C; 908 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, southern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost36.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-0.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 22–38RH 54–65%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 153 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 °C25 / 24–2725 / 23–2725 / 22–2623 / 21–2521 / 19–2319 / 17–2219 / 17–2121 / 19–2222 / 21–2523 / 21–2524 / 22–2625 / 23–27
Night °C17 / 14–2017 / 14–2116 / 13–2013 / 11–1810 / 7–167 / 4–147 / 4–138 / 6–1411 / 8–1513 / 10–1614 / 12–1816 / 13–19
Rain mm139 / 111–204122 / 98–205102 / 82–14756 / 40–7224 / 15–4119 / 9–3918 / 7–3826 / 10–5147 / 22–8694 / 64–119125 / 103–156136 / 104–182
DLI37 / 34–4136 / 33–3932 / 30–3528 / 26–3024 / 22–2822 / 19–2523 / 21–2627 / 25–3131 / 29–3633 / 31–3935 / 33–4038 / 35–41
RH %65 / 61–6865 / 62–6864 / 61–6762 / 59–6457 / 55–6054 / 53–5754 / 52–5755 / 53–5957 / 54–6262 / 57–6563 / 59–6664 / 61–67
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 153 grid cells holding the 265 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 2278:4200 (-23.925, 30.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 3.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.3 °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 153 distinct grid cells holding 265 of the 265 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2278:4200 (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 -24.00_30.000, lapse-corrected +67 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1124 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.
NativeMozambique, Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces · 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 marker-29.625, 30.875 · in the densest population, 278 records (65% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 430 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 265 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 221 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 165 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 430 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Combretum kraussii, photograph 1did not loadCombretum kraussii, photograph 2did not loadCombretum kraussii, photograph 3did not loadCombretum kraussii, photograph 4did not loadCombretum kraussii, photograph 5did not loadCombretum kraussii, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Sunčana Bradley, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Ferncliffe forest wilding, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

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

Hemionitis viridis Hemionitis viridis Pteridaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, JMKThunbergia atriplicifolia Thunbergia atriplicifolia Natal Primrose Photo: CC BY, Wynand UysFicus craterostoma Ficus craterostoma Blunt-Leaved Fig Photo: CC BY, Sunčana BradleyPlectranthus purpuratus Plectranthus purpuratus Cliff Spurflower Photo: CC BY, Sunčana BradleyScadoxus puniceus Scadoxus puniceus Royal-paintbrush Photo: CC0, author not stated Maytenus peduncularis Celastraceae

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 falcatum Combretum falcatum Combretaceae Photo: CC BY, Julien RenoultCombretum farinosum Combretum farinosum Combretaceae Photo: CC BY, Andrea Gantzer all 29 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Combretum lucidum. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Combretaceae
Described by
Hochst.
Native to
Mozambique, Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal +2
Wild records
430 in range · 221 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; 5 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (3 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 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 -24.00_30.000, lapse-corrected +67 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 14 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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