Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Dillenia suffruticosa; photograph (c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2023-08-23

Dillenia suffruticosa (Griff. ex Hook.f. & Thomson) Martelli

Shrubby dillenia

Dilleniaceae · Borneo, Malaya +2

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Dillenia suffruticosa (Griff. ex Hook.f. & Thomson) Martelli: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Griff.) Martelli.

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Dillenia suffruticosa, photograph (c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dillenia suffruticosa, photograph (c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dillenia suffruticosa, photograph (c) Toby Y, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dillenia suffruticosa, photograph (c) Michael Berardozzi, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dillenia suffruticosa, photograph (c) Michael Berardozzi, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dillenia suffruticosa, photograph (c) grass_0, some rights reserved (CC BY) 58 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
22.7°C
Record low 20.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Apr, May, Jun and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,923mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
29–36DLI
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
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Dillenia suffruticosa, also known as simpoh air, simpor, or CB leaf, is a species of Dillenia found in tropical South East Asia in secondary forest and swampy ground. It is a highly invasive weed in Sri Lanka.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Dillenia suffruticosa", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Dillenia

Dillenia is a genus of evergreen or semi-evergreen trees and shrubs in the flowering plant family Dilleniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of southern Asia, Australasia, and the Indian Ocean islands.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,179 mm of 2,937 mm) takes 8 months, September to January and March to May. Mean temperature moves 1.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month. 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

2,937 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,179 mm of it September to January and March to May. Wettest month November at 331 mm, driest month June at 182 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,434 mm to 4,499 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,923 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,937 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 36 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 26, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 22.7 °C, the absolute minimum 20.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 23.2 °C in January and February (across the grid cells of the range 21.1 °C to 24.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.6 °C in April and May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 22.7 °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: 65 to 68% 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 +3 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 Dillenia suffruticosa through the yearWarmest months April, May, June and August, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest months January and February, mean nightly low 23.2 °C; 2,937 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°32.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER20.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 29–36RH 65–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 235 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 / 27–3029 / 27–3029 / 28–3130 / 29–3130 / 29–3130 / 29–3129 / 28–3030 / 28–3129 / 28–3029 / 28–3029 / 28–2928 / 27–29
Night °C23 / 21–2523 / 21–2524 / 22–2524 / 22–2624 / 22–2624 / 22–2624 / 22–2524 / 22–2524 / 22–2524 / 22–2524 / 22–2523 / 21–25
Rain mm247 / 169–496187 / 123–365240 / 166–362265 / 192–346235 / 201–323182 / 149–264192 / 158–281197 / 157–282243 / 184–326301 / 196–370331 / 259–403317 / 239–524
DLI31 / 28–3435 / 31–3836 / 32–3835 / 32–3833 / 31–3633 / 31–3533 / 31–3534 / 32–3734 / 32–3733 / 30–3430 / 28–3129 / 26–31
RH %67 / 64–7066 / 64–7066 / 65–6967 / 65–7067 / 65–7065 / 64–6965 / 63–6865 / 63–6866 / 63–6967 / 64–7068 / 66–7168 / 66–71
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 235 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (930 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is 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 1770:5672 (1.475, 103.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 20.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 22.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.3 °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 235 distinct grid cells holding 930 of the 932 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1770:5672 (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 1.50_103.750, lapse-corrected +3 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 29 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.
NativeBorneo, Malaya, Philippines, Sumatera · introduced: Seychelles, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Jawa, Jamaica, Trinidad-Tobago · 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 marker1.425, 103.773 · in the densest population, 703 records (67% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1048 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 930 of them in the land cells it reads, of 932 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 427 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 8 km away. 140 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 116 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 1048 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Dillenia suffruticosa, photograph 1did not loadDillenia suffruticosa, photograph 2did not loadDillenia suffruticosa, photograph 3did not loadDillenia suffruticosa, photograph 4did not loadDillenia suffruticosa, photograph 5did not loadDillenia suffruticosa, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Toby Y, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Michael Berardozzi, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) grass_0, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Nepenthes gracilis Nepenthes gracilis Slender Pitcher-Plant Photo: CC BY, Brandon SeahEleiodoxa conferta Eleiodoxa conferta Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, Adam KamalNepenthes rafflesiana Nepenthes rafflesiana Raffle's Pitcher plant Photo: CC BY, Caleb CattoMangifera caesia Mangifera caesia Mango Photo: CC BY-SA, Alternativity Alstonia spatulata Hard milkwood Ficus grossularioides Ficus grossularioides White-leaved fig Photo: CC BY, Ong Jyh Seng

Other Dillenia 11 in the reference

Dillenia alata Dillenia alata Dilleniaceae Photo: CC BY, Luke LythgoeDillenia excelsa Dillenia excelsa Dilleniaceae Photo: CC BY, TimDillenia indica Dillenia indica Elephant apple Photo: CC BY, Luan Mazzeo Dillenia luzoniensis Dilleniaceae Dillenia ovata Ovate dillenia Dillenia pentagyna Dillenia pentagyna Hargoza Photo: CC BY, rajesh rockyDillenia philippinensis Dillenia philippinensis Philippine dillenia Photo: CC BY, Nielbert RanerDillenia reticulata Dillenia reticulata Dilleniaceae Photo: CC BY, Adam KamalDillenia retusa Dillenia retusa Dilleniaceae Photo: CC0, Akshaysurendra1 Dillenia sibuyanensis Dilleniaceae Dillenia turbinata Dillenia turbinata Dilleniaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, PQ77wd

Names & registers

Also known as Dillenia burbidgei; Dillenia suffruticosa var. borneensis; Wormia burbidgei; Wormia excelsa; Wormia revoluta and 3 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Dilleniaceae
Described by
(Griff. ex Hook.f. & Thomson) Martelli
Native to
Borneo, Malaya, Philippines +1
Wild records
1048 in range · 427 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 2026-10-22GBIF's key 5383897 is Dillenia suffruticosa (Griff.) Martelli; the page links Kew's Dillenia suffruticosa (Griff. ex Hook.f. & Thomson) Martelli, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
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; 272 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (169 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 10 at a herbarium, 93 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 1.50_103.750, lapse-corrected +3 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 30 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…