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Pongamia brandisiana (Kurz) Z.Q.Song

Fabaceae · Bangladesh, Laos +3

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

Photographs not checked iNaturalist and GBIF media were 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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Sow seed
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
9.6°C
Record low 3.2 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
35°C
Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,509mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–41DLI
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
Wet summers: the rain comes May and July to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 7 records in 6 grid cells. The records.

About the genus · Pongamia

Pongamia is a genus of plant in the family Fabaceae. The genus, formerly treated as monotypic, was extended to include 54 species in 2025, following research that showed the genus Millettia was paraphyletic. This expanded genus also includes the former genera Fordia and Ibatiria.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,084 mm of 1,446 mm) falls in May and July to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.7 °C against a yearly mean of 26.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: January to April and November.

Rain

1,446 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,084 mm of it May and July to October. Wettest month September at 284 mm, driest month January at 8 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,056 mm to 2,113 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,509 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,446 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: 27 to 41 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 42).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 9.6 °C, the absolute minimum 3.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 15.4 °C in December (across the grid cells of the range 12.1 °C to 20.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 34.6 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 9.6 °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: 53 to 67% 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 +394 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

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 7 records in 6 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Pongamia brandisiana through the yearWarmest month April, mean daily high 35 °C; coldest month December, mean nightly low 15.4 °C; 1,446 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°36.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER3.2° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 27–41RH 53–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 6 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 / 24–3131 / 26–3234 / 28–3435 / 29–3633 / 28–3331 / 26–3231 / 26–3230 / 25–3129 / 25–3129 / 25–3128 / 24–3127 / 23–30
Night °C16 / 12–2117 / 14–2320 / 17–2524 / 19–2624 / 20–2624 / 20–2624 / 20–2523 / 20–2522 / 19–2521 / 18–2418 / 15–2215 / 12–21
Rain mm8 / 3–1614 / 7–3029 / 13–8875 / 48–185208 / 154–282173 / 120–250174 / 130–264227 / 186–338284 / 212–405191 / 116–26051 / 46–6712 / 6–13
DLI32 / 31–3336 / 35–3740 / 38–4141 / 38–4235 / 33–3630 / 28–3228 / 25–3227 / 24–3028 / 25–3028 / 27–3029 / 27–3129 / 27–32
RH %56 / 52–5754 / 48–5953 / 46–6156 / 49–6362 / 60–6764 / 62–7264 / 62–7266 / 63–7467 / 65–7266 / 63–6961 / 57–6357 / 53–59
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 6 grid cells holding the 7 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 1510:5627 (14.475, 101.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 3.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 9.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.1 °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 6 distinct grid cells holding 7 of the 7 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1510:5627 (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 14.50_101.250, lapse-corrected +394 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 715 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.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the key of the name Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 5355870 (Millettia brandisiana Kurz, 62 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeBangladesh, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam · 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 marker18.45, 99.217 · in the densest population, 36 records (82% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 44 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 7 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 39 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 13 km away. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 37 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.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 5355870 (Millettia brandisiana Kurz): Kew's file holds it as Millettia brandisiana Kurz (synonym under Pongamia brandisiana (Kurz) Z.Q.Song); 62 records, from GBIF's download.
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 44 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 and GBIF media were skipped (not asked) when this page was built. 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.

Vanda lilacina Vanda lilacina Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, K. P. WojtasDipterocarpus obtusifolius Dipterocarpus obtusifolius Dipterocarpaceae Photo: CC BY, Thomas Gyselinck Englerarum montanum Araceae Myriopteron extensum Apocynaceae Crotalaria juncea Crotalaria juncea Sunn hemp Photo: CC BY, Nick DotyPhlogacanthus pulcherrimus Phlogacanthus pulcherrimus Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, Cheryl Stinchcomb

Other Pongamia 3 in the reference

Pongamia peguensis Fabaceae Pongamia pinnata Pongamia pinnata Indian beech tree Photo: CC BY, Ramnarayan K Pongamia pulchra Fabaceae

Names & registers

Also known as Millettia brandisiana; Phaseoloides brandisianum; Millettia venusta; Millettia laotica. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWO

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
(Kurz) Z.Q.Song
Native to
Bangladesh, Laos, Myanmar +2
Wild records
44 in range · 39 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
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Pongamia brandisiana (Kurz) Z.Q.Song (plant_name_id 3329254), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 62 records of GBIF's key 5355870, Millettia brandisiana Kurz (Kew's file holds it as Millettia brandisiana Kurz (synonym under Pongamia brandisiana (Kurz) Z.Q.Song)): the GBIF download
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 14.50_101.250, lapse-corrected +394 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22no item carries Kew's IPNI identifier 77354890-1, POWO 77354890-1
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
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 5 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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