Species
+

Parkinsonia aculeata L.

Bakaporo, Barbados flowerfence, Bonchi di Strena, Bonchi' Strena

Climate known 92 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Parkinsonia aculeata is a species of perennial flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. Common names include palo verde, Mexican palo verde, Parkinsonia, Jerusalem thorn, jelly bean tree, palo de rayo, and retama.

Text from Wikipedia, “Parkinsonia aculeata”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Parkinsonia

Parkinsonia, also Cercidium, is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains about 12 species that are native to semidesert regions of Africa and the Americas. The name of the genus honors English apothecary and botanist John Parkinson (1567–1650).

Text from Wikipedia, “Parkinsonia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +29
Wild records
574 in range· 67 open

At a glance

Warmest month
34°C
Aug, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
724mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 86 mm (CHELSA)
Light
20–43DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to October in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 724 mm a year, wettest October at 86 mm, driest January at 46 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 43 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 5.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Parkinsonia inermis Spreng.; Parkinsonia spinosa Kunth; Parkinsonia thornberi M.E.Jones.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to October in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (534 mm of 724 mm) takes 8 months, March to October. Mean temperature moves 15.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 724 mm a year, wettest October at 86 mm, driest January at 46 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

724 mm a year at the habitat, 534 mm of it March to October. Wettest month October at 86 mm, driest January at 46 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 319 mm to 1086 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 43 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 5.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 5.5 °C, the absolute minimum 3.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.3 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 8.3 °C in January (across the envelope cells 5.8 °C to 20.5 °C), warmest day 34.1 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 5.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 60% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 20 °C in Jan to 34 °C in Aug; mean night from 8 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 724 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 275 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 3.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.3 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°31.3° 99th-percentile day (undated)3.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 20–43RH 56–60 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 275 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C20 / 17–2822 / 19–2724 / 22–2827 / 23–3130 / 19–3432 / 17–3634 / 16–3634 / 19–3631 / 21–3327 / 22–3023 / 21–2720 / 17–27
Night °C8 / 6–2110 / 8–2013 / 11–1916 / 13–2020 / 12–2323 / 9–2524 / 8–2624 / 9–2621 / 11–2417 / 13–2113 / 10–209 / 7–19
Rain mm46 / 15–12047 / 10–12057 / 7–12658 / 9–10374 / 11–10269 / 19–11761 / 32–8852 / 34–8777 / 37–14686 / 26–11350 / 12–10347 / 12–110
DLI21 / 19–4526 / 23–4032 / 29–4336 / 24–4838 / 19–5041 / 16–4943 / 18–4541 / 24–4234 / 30–3929 / 26–3723 / 20–4320 / 17–46
RH %58 / 49–6157 / 47–6257 / 44–6257 / 41–6460 / 43–6359 / 46–6358 / 49–6356 / 52–6457 / 52–6358 / 49–6158 / 47–6057 / 50–60

Each figure is the median across the 275 grid cells holding the 559 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2493:2431 (-34.675, -58.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 3.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 5.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 275 distinct grid cells holding the 559 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2493:2431 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -34.50_-58.125, lapse-corrected -2 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 5 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Aruba, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Turks-Caicos Is., Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Galápagos, Peru, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay, Uruguay· introduced: Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Greece, Sicilia, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Burkina, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Zaïre, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Mauritius, Réunion, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Gulf States, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Hainan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Jawa, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, New Caledonia, Marianas, Hawaii, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Mexico Southwest, Trinidad-Tobago, Surinam, Venezuela, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker29.563, -98.454 · in the densest population, 291 records (51% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 574 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 67 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 117 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 15 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 574 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Parkinsonia aculeataParkinsonia aculeataParkinsonia aculeataParkinsonia aculeataParkinsonia aculeataParkinsonia aculeataParkinsonia aculeataParkinsonia aculeata

Photographs: (c) Douglas Goldman, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (8).

Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Parkinsonia aculeata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Fine-Structural Changes in the Cytoplasm of Germinating Pollen
Donald A. Larson (1965) · American Journal of Botany
FINE‐STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN THE CYTOPLASM OF GERMINATING POLLEN
Donald A. Larson (1965) · American Journal of Botany
Evaluation of Forest and Fruit Trees Used for Rehabilitation of Semiarid Alkali-Sodic Soils in India
J. C. Dagar, G. Singh, N. T. Singh (2001) · Arid Land Research and Management
Refining the process of agent selection through understanding plant demography and plant response to herbivory
S. Raghu, John R. Wilson, K. Dhileepan (2006) · Australian Journal of Entomology
Biomass Production of Prosopis species (Mesquite), Leucaena, and Other Leguminous Trees Grown Under Heat/Drought Stress
Péter Felker, Glen H. Cannell, Peter R. Clark, J. Osborn (1983) · Forest Science
Phytoremediation potential of some halophytic species for soil salinity
Sarita Devi, A. S. Nandwal, R. Angrish, Sunder Singh Arya (2015) · International Journal of Phytoremediation
Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Effects of Mexican Medicinal Plants
María del Rosario Jacobo-Salcedo, Ángel Josabad Alonso‐Castro, Luis A. Salazar‐Olivo, Candy Carranza‐Álvarez (2011) · Natural Product Communications
FINE STRUCTURE OF PARKINSONIA ACULEATA POLLEN. I. THE POLLEN WALL
Donald A. Larson, C. Willard Lewis (1961) · American Journal of Botany

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Parkinsonia 2 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answercarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 4 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.