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Cordia subcordata; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2026-09-10

Cordia subcordata Lam.

Kou; Beach cordial; Island-walnut; Mareer

Cordiaceae · Somalia, Kenya +61

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Cordia subcordata, photograph (c) Harrison Cole, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cordia subcordata, photograph (c) Harrison Cole, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cordia subcordata, photograph (c) Gabriel, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cordia subcordata, photograph (c) Gabriel, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cordia subcordata, photograph (c) Gabriel, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cordia subcordata, photograph (c) Gabriel, some rights reserved (CC BY) 74 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
20.5°C
Record low 17.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Nov and Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,798mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
30–42DLI
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, December to April (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.

Summary

Cordia subcordata is a species of flowering tree in the family Cordiaceae. It can be found growing in eastern Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, northern Australia and the Pacific Islands. The plant is known by a variety of names, including kou, beach cordia, sea trumpet, and kerosene wood.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Cordia subcordata", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Cordia

Cordia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cordiaceae. It contains 228 species of shrubs and trees, that are found in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. Many of the species are commonly called manjack, while bocote may refer to several Central American species in Spanish.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,211 mm of 1,722 mm) falls in December to April. The temperature curve is flat, 2.5 °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 temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,722 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,211 mm of it December to April. Wettest month January at 301 mm, driest month September at 37 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,174 mm to 3,094 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,798 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,722 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: 30 to 42 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 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 20.5 °C, the absolute minimum 17.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 23.2 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 19.0 °C to 25.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.1 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 20.5 °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 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 -15 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, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Cordia subcordata through the yearWarmest months January, February, March, April, May, November and December, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 23.2 °C; 1,722 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.15°20°25°30°35°40°34.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER17.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 30–42RH 61–65%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 363 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 / 27–3028 / 27–3028 / 27–3028 / 26–3028 / 25–3026 / 23–2926 / 22–2926 / 23–2926 / 24–3027 / 25–3128 / 26–3128 / 27–30
Night °C26 / 25–2726 / 25–2726 / 24–2726 / 23–2725 / 22–2624 / 20–2623 / 19–2623 / 19–2624 / 21–2625 / 22–2625 / 23–2726 / 24–27
Rain mm301 / 138–445275 / 113–394253 / 114–347166 / 89–301114 / 21–24773 / 4–21852 / 3–21941 / 3–18637 / 5–22568 / 17–262126 / 55–266216 / 119–350
DLI37 / 33–4237 / 33–4137 / 34–4135 / 31–3932 / 26–3630 / 24–3431 / 25–3535 / 30–3939 / 35–4342 / 36–4642 / 34–4539 / 33–44
RH %65 / 62–6765 / 62–6764 / 62–6763 / 59–6762 / 56–6661 / 54–6561 / 55–6562 / 56–6563 / 58–6663 / 59–6663 / 60–6764 / 62–67

Records on both sides of the equator: the 106 cells at least 10° north of it have seasons six months apart and are left out, not combined into a year no place has. These figures are across the 363 cells that remain: the 237 at least 10° south and the 126 within 10° of the equator, which stay in either way.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 363 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (527 records in those cells; 121 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), 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 2026:6213 (-11.325, 130.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 17.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 20.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.8 °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 363 distinct grid cells holding 527 of the 1035 in-range records (121 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out) on the southern side of the equator (106 cells poleward of 10° north, 237 poleward of 10° south: the two sides' seasons are not combined, and cells within 10° of the equator stay in); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2026:6213 (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 -11.50_130.625, lapse-corrected -15 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 3 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.
NativeSomalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Aldabra, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Mozambique Channel Is., Madagascar, Seychelles, Hainan, Bangladesh, India, Laccadive Is., Maldives, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Cocos (Keeling) I., Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Christmas I., Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Fiji, Gilbert Is., Howland-Baker Is., Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, Phoenix Is., Samoa, Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Cook Is., Line Is., Marquesas, Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Wake I., Hawaii · introduced: Mauritius · 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 marker20.707, -156.446 · in the densest population, 294 records (21% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1374 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 527 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1035 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 774 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 8740 km away. 70 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 339 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 of the 1374 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Cordia subcordata, photograph 1did not loadCordia subcordata, photograph 2did not loadCordia subcordata, photograph 3did not loadCordia subcordata, photograph 4did not loadCordia subcordata, photograph 5did not loadCordia subcordata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Harrison Cole, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Gabriel, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

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

Pemphis acidula Pemphis acidula Ironwood mangrove Photo: CC BY, Roland MuenchGuettarda speciosa Guettarda speciosa Sea randa Photo: CC BY, Neal Kelso Ludia mauritiana Salicaceae Rhizophora mucronata Rhizophora mucronata Loop-root mangrove Photo: CC BY, Rob FosterLeptopetalum biflorum Leptopetalum biflorum Twoflower Mille Graines Photo: CC BY, 胡正恆(Jackson Hu)Sonneratia alba Sonneratia alba Lythraceae Photo: CC BY, Thomas Mesaglio

Other Cordia 32 in the reference

Cordia afra Cordia afra Boraginaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, JMKCordia africana Cordia africana Large-leaved Cordia Photo: CC BY, Augustin SoulardCordia alliodora Cordia alliodora Cypre Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezCordia americana Cordia americana Cordiaceae Photo: CC BY, Cecilia Fer Díaz Cordia bogotensis Cordiaceae Cordia boissieri Cordia boissieri Mexican-olive Photo: CC BY, Joseph AubertCordia collococca Cordia collococca Clammy cherry Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezCordia decandra Cordia decandra Cordiaceae Photo: CC BY, Jorge Herreros de LartundoCordia dentata Cordia dentata White cordia Photo: CC BY, Carlos Domínguez-RodríguezCordia dichotoma Cordia dichotoma Fragrant manjack Photo: CC BY-SA, vrxzCordia dodecandra Cordia dodecandra Cordiaceae Photo: CC BY, Deby GómezCordia ecalyculata Cordia ecalyculata Cordiaceae Photo: CC0, demianlescano all 33 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Cordia banalo; Cordia campanulata; Cordia hexandra; Cordia ignota; Cordia moluccana and 7 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Cordiaceae
Described by
Lam.
Native to
Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania +60
Wild records
1374 in range · 774 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; 58 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (50 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 8 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 -11.50_130.625, lapse-corrected -15 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 71 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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