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Lonchocarpus violaceus (Jacq.) Kunth ex DC.

Fabaceae · Leeward Is. AB Ant, Venezuelan Antilles +5

Photographs not checked iNaturalist was skipped (not asked) when this page was built. Not asked, or not answered, is not "none": nothing here claims there is none. Why the site says it this way.
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Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
22.3°C
Record low 19.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
32°C
Feb and Mar at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,166mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
29–40DLI
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, May and July to November (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

Lonchocarpus violaceus is a species of evergreen tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to the Caribbean and northern South America. It has been introduced to Florida. Its names include lilac tree, greenheart, Spanish ash, and lancepod.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Lonchocarpus violaceus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (927 mm of 1,209 mm) falls in May and July to November. The temperature curve is flat, 0.9 °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

1,209 mm in the median year at the habitat, 927 mm of it May and July to November. Wettest month October at 216 mm, driest months (2 at 12 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,035 mm to 1,821 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,166 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,209 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 40 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 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 22.3 °C, the absolute minimum 19.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 23.6 °C in November and December (across the grid cells of the range 21.4 °C to 25.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 32.0 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 22.3 °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 71% 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 -20 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 Lonchocarpus violaceus through the yearWarmest months February and March, mean daily high 32 °C; coldest months November and December, mean nightly low 23.6 °C; 1,209 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°45°41.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER19.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 29–40RH 61–71%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 17 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 °C31 / 28–3132 / 28–3332 / 28–3331 / 28–3229 / 28–3029 / 28–3029 / 29–3129 / 29–3129 / 28–3028 / 28–2928 / 27–2929 / 27–29
Night °C24 / 21–2524 / 21–2524 / 22–2525 / 22–2624 / 23–2624 / 22–2624 / 22–2624 / 22–2624 / 22–2524 / 22–2524 / 21–2524 / 21–25
Rain mm12 / 6–2812 / 5–3615 / 9–6866 / 43–156137 / 92–219121 / 66–180130 / 43–178143 / 85–214157 / 111–220216 / 170–237144 / 117–17456 / 33–87
DLI36 / 34–3738 / 35–3940 / 35–4136 / 30–3832 / 26–3433 / 28–3434 / 29–3633 / 28–3531 / 27–3330 / 26–3129 / 26–3032 / 29–33
RH %63 / 62–6661 / 61–6563 / 61–6767 / 64–7069 / 67–7269 / 66–7168 / 66–7069 / 66–7170 / 67–7271 / 67–7370 / 67–7367 / 66–69
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 17 grid cells holding the 26 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 1613:2113 (9.325, -74.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 19.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 22.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.3 °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 17 distinct grid cells holding 26 of the 26 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1613:2113 (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_-74.375, lapse-corrected -20 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 36 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.
NativeLeeward Is. AB Ant, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast · introduced: Zimbabwe · 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 marker9.959, -75.152 · in the densest population, 32 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 67 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 26 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 47 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 12 km away. 9 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 41 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 67 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Not checked. iNaturalist was skipped (not asked) when this page was built; GBIF's observation records with coordinates hold none. Not a statement that none exist.

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

Stachytarpheta orubica Stachytarpheta orubica Verbenaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedCynanchum racemosum Cynanchum racemosum Talayote Photo: CC BY, Carlos Domínguez-RodríguezLeuenbergeria guamacho Leuenbergeria guamacho Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Dairo EscobarLibidibia coriaria Libidibia coriaria Divi-divi Photo: CC BY, nebrooksMorisonia odoratissima Morisonia odoratissima Capparaceae Photo: CC BY, keesgroenendijkCordia dentata Cordia dentata White cordia Photo: CC BY, Carlos Domínguez-Rodríguez

Other Lonchocarpus 7 in the reference

Lonchocarpus castilloi Lonchocarpus castilloi Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Fabian OrozcoLonchocarpus cultratus Lonchocarpus cultratus Fabaceae Photo: CC0, Alfredo F. Fuentes ClarosLonchocarpus longistylus Lonchocarpus longistylus Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Juan Cruzado CortésLonchocarpus nitidus Lonchocarpus nitidus Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Facundo ChieffoLonchocarpus punctatus Lonchocarpus punctatus Dotted lancepod Photo: CC BY, Katja SchulzLonchocarpus rugosus Lonchocarpus rugosus Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Jalil R.Lonchocarpus sericeus Lonchocarpus sericeus Savonette Photo: CC BY, Gabriel M. Rolim

Names & registers

Also known as Dalbergia violacea; Lonchocarpus violaceus var. violaceus; Robinia violacea. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
(Jacq.) Kunth ex DC.
Native to
Leeward Is. AB Ant, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. +4
Wild records
67 in range · 47 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; 7 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (3 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 4 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 9.50_-74.375, lapse-corrected -20 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Lonchocarpus violaceus (Jacq.) Kunth ex DC. (the item's: IPNI 503132-1, POWO 503131-1)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 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 nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons nothing to reportasked 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 34 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…