Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Dalbergia latifolia; photograph (c) Vikas D Prasad, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) CC BY-SA(c) Vikas D Prasad, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · observed growing wild · 2025-07-11

Dalbergia latifolia Roxb.

Indian rosewood; Bombay blackwood; Malabar rosewood; East Indian rosewood

Fabaceae · Bangladesh, East Himalaya +6

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Dalbergia latifolia, photograph (c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dalbergia latifolia, photograph (c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dalbergia latifolia, photograph (c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dalbergia latifolia, photograph (c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dalbergia latifolia, photograph (c) Aditya Rao, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dalbergia latifolia, photograph (c) Aadi Kulkarni, some rights reserved (CC BY) 61 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
10.0°C
Record low 5.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
33°C
Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,874mm
8 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
23–42DLI
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
A rainy season, June to September, neither the cool nor the warm half of the year. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Dalbergia latifolia (synonym Dalbergia emarginata) is a premier timber species, also known as the Indian rosewood (Tamil / தமிழ்: Eetti / ஈட்டி) (Telugu / తెలుగు: Irugudu/ ఇరుగుడు). It is native to low-elevation tropical monsoon forests of south east India. Some common names in English include rosewood, Bombay blackwood, roseta rosewood, East Indian rosewood, reddish-brown rosewood, Indian palisandre, and Java palisandre. Its Indian common names are beete, and satisal or sitsal. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Dalbergia latifolia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Dalbergia

Dalbergia is a large genus of small to medium-size trees, shrubs and lianas in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. It was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic Dalbergia clade : the Dalbergieae. The genus has a wide distribution, native to the tropical regions of Central and South America, Africa, Madagascar and Southern Asia.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a rainy season with no name: 70% of the median year's rain (1,352 mm of 1,748 mm) falls in June to September, whose mean temperature, 23.4 °C, is within half a degree of the year's, 23.6 °C, so it is neither the cooler nor the warmer part of the year. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Rain

1,748 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,352 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 494 mm, driest month January at 3 mm; 2 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 854 mm to 3,512 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,874 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,748 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: 23 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 20, 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 10.0 °C, the absolute minimum 5.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 14.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 10.0 °C to 19.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 32.7 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 10.0 °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: 52 to 75% 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 -48 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 Dalbergia latifolia through the yearWarmest month April, mean daily high 33 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 14.8 °C; 1,748 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.0°10°20°30°40°50°41.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER5.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter020040060080010001200mm rainDLI 23–42RH 52–75%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 50 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 °C27 / 22–3129 / 26–3232 / 29–3433 / 29–3631 / 28–3627 / 24–3425 / 23–3225 / 23–3127 / 25–3128 / 25–3128 / 25–3027 / 23–30
Night °C15 / 10–2016 / 12–2019 / 16–2221 / 19–2321 / 20–2621 / 19–2721 / 18–2620 / 18–2521 / 18–2419 / 17–2318 / 14–2215 / 11–20
Rain mm3 / 1–284 / 1–2914 / 4–9038 / 8–181110 / 30–226297 / 81–702494 / 94–1176366 / 113–820195 / 105–392166 / 84–34150 / 19–23611 / 6–64
DLI36 / 28–3840 / 33–4142 / 39–4442 / 37–4638 / 32–4427 / 23–3423 / 20–3124 / 21–3129 / 26–3431 / 29–3431 / 28–3333 / 27–34
RH %52 / 50–5852 / 47–5753 / 44–6159 / 47–6763 / 49–7072 / 58–7875 / 62–8173 / 63–8070 / 62–7565 / 57–6959 / 51–6755 / 50–62
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 50 grid cells holding the 88 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 1429:5076 (18.525, 73.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 10.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.1 °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 50 distinct grid cells holding 88 of the 88 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1429:5076 (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 18.50_73.750, lapse-corrected -48 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 588 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.
NativeBangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Myanmar, Jawa · introduced: Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Borneo, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Philippines, Sulawesi, Queensland · 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 marker11.255, 76.751 · in the densest population, 129 records (48% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 268 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 88 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 173 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 32 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 180 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 268 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Dalbergia latifolia, photograph 1did not loadDalbergia latifolia, photograph 2did not loadDalbergia latifolia, photograph 3did not loadDalbergia latifolia, photograph 4did not loadDalbergia latifolia, photograph 5did not loadDalbergia latifolia, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Aditya Rao, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Aadi Kulkarni, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Rotheca serrata Rotheca serrata Blue Fountain Bush Photo: CC BY, Aadi KulkarniMelia dubia Melia dubia Meliaceae Photo: CC BY, T R Shankar RamanPavetta indica Pavetta indica Indian pavetta Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaSenegalia rugata Senegalia rugata Soap-pod Photo: CC0, Ajit AmpalakkadTerminalia chebula Terminalia chebula Myrobalan Photo: CC BY-SA, Dinesh ValkeClematis gouriana Clematis gouriana Chagalbati Photo: CC0, S.MORE

Other Dalbergia 18 in the reference

Dalbergia armata Dalbergia armata Thorny Rope Photo: CC BY, Mark CostelloDalbergia assamica Dalbergia assamica Fabaceae Photo: CC0, LannafoliumDalbergia benthamii Dalbergia benthamii Bentham's Rosewood Photo: CC BY, Denys VynokurovDalbergia cochinchinensis Dalbergia cochinchinensis Siamese Rosewood Photo: CC0, PamputtDalbergia ecastaphyllum Dalbergia ecastaphyllum Coinvine Photo: CC BY, Guillaume DelaitreDalbergia hupeana Dalbergia hupeana Hwangdan Photo: Public domain, CiftoniaDalbergia lanceolaria Dalbergia lanceolaria Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaDalbergia melanoxylon Dalbergia melanoxylon African blackwood Photo: CC BY, Aadi KulkarniDalbergia millettii Dalbergia millettii Fabaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedDalbergia miscolobium Dalbergia miscolobium Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Marcio Santos FerreiraDalbergia nigra Dalbergia nigra Bahia rosewood Photo: CC BY, Diogo LuizDalbergia obovata Dalbergia obovata Climbing Flat-bean Photo: CC0, author not stated all 19 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Amerimnon javanicum; Amerimnon latifolium; Dalbergia emarginata; Dalbergia javanica. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
Roxb.
Native to
Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India +5
Wild records
268 in range · 173 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 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
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; 12 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (10 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 18.50_73.750, lapse-corrected -48 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 2026-10-22
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 36 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…