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Prunus africana; photograph (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) CC BY-SA(c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · observed growing wild · 2024-09-04

Prunus africana (Hook.f.) Kalkman

African cherry; African Almond; Red-Stinkwood; Pygeum

Rosaceae · Ghana, Burundi +21

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Prunus africana (Hook.f.) Kalkman: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Hook.fil.) Kalkman.

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Prunus africana, photograph (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Prunus africana, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedPrunus africana, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedPrunus africana, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedPrunus africana, photograph (c) Rosemary Harrison, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Prunus africana, photograph (c) Rosemary Harrison, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) 30 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
12.7°C
Record low 10.0 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
Feb and Mar at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,584mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
32–37DLI
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, March to May and August 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

Prunus africana, the African cherry, is an African species of cherry growing to 40 metres (130 feet) in height.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Prunus africana", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Prunus

Prunus is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs from the rose family (Rosaceae) that produce stone fruits, or drupes. As of March 2024, the genus has about 340 accepted species, including almonds, apricots, cherries, peaches, and plums. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, being native to the temperate regions of North America, the neotropics of South America, and temperate and tropical regions of Eurasia and Africa.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,022 mm of 1,342 mm) falls in March to May and August to November. The temperature curve is flat, 2.6 °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, southern 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

1,342 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,022 mm of it March to May and August to November. Wettest month October at 170 mm, driest month January at 52 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 952 mm to 2,549 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,584 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,342 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 32 to 37 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 25, 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 12.7 °C, the absolute minimum 10.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 13.5 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 9.3 °C to 17.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.3 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12.7 °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: 55 to 64% 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 +114 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, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Prunus africana through the yearWarmest months February and March, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 13.5 °C; 1,342 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, southern hemisphere.5°10°15°20°25°30°35°31.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER10.0° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 32–37RH 55–64%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 52 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 °C25 / 21–2926 / 22–3026 / 22–2925 / 21–2724 / 20–2723 / 18–2723 / 17–2724 / 18–2724 / 19–2724 / 20–2724 / 20–2725 / 20–28
Night °C16 / 10–1916 / 10–1916 / 11–1916 / 11–1915 / 11–1914 / 10–1814 / 9–1814 / 10–1814 / 10–1815 / 10–1815 / 10–1815 / 10–18
Rain mm52 / 24–12453 / 33–114125 / 85–211166 / 98–252157 / 47–30669 / 19–27269 / 17–305105 / 23–301155 / 31–307170 / 77–246144 / 67–20977 / 39–163
DLI36 / 33–4037 / 35–4237 / 34–4035 / 30–3734 / 27–3532 / 25–3432 / 25–3433 / 27–3536 / 32–3735 / 32–3734 / 32–3835 / 33–37
RH %57 / 52–6455 / 51–6360 / 55–6563 / 59–6963 / 57–7061 / 55–7161 / 53–7262 / 54–7163 / 55–6864 / 58–6863 / 57–6760 / 53–66
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 52 grid cells holding the 55 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 1819:4193 (-0.975, 29.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 12.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.0 °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 52 distinct grid cells holding 55 of the 55 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1819:4193 (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 -1.00_29.375, lapse-corrected +114 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1620 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.
NativeGhana, Burundi, Cameroon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Comoros, Madagascar · 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 marker-3.176, 37.553 · in the densest population, 159 records (29% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “montane tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 539 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 55 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 448 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 759 km away. 6 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 484 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 4° block of the 539 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Prunus africana, photograph 1did not loadPrunus africana, photograph 2did not loadPrunus africana, photograph 3did not loadPrunus africana, photograph 4did not loadPrunus africana, photograph 5did not loadPrunus africana, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Rosemary Harrison, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2).

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

Bersama abyssinica Bersama abyssinica Winged Bersama Photo: CC BY-SA, SAplantsCordia africana Cordia africana Large-leaved Cordia Photo: CC BY, Augustin SoulardPolyscias fulva Polyscias fulva Araliaceae Photo: CC BY, jeanjacquesgodonDracaena laxissima Dracaena laxissima Asparagaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Ton Rulkens from MozambiqueAlbizia gummifera Albizia gummifera Peacock Flower Photo: CC BY, Dr. Alexey YakovlevAcanthus polystachyus Acanthus polystachyus Bear's Breeches Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony Rebelo

Other Prunus 125 in the reference

Prunus alaica Rosaceae Prunus americana Prunus americana American plum Photo: CC BY, Tom NortonPrunus amygdalus Prunus amygdalus Almond Photo: CC BY-SA, Ken YoungPrunus andersonii Prunus andersonii Desert peach Photo: CC BY, Tom WainwrightPrunus angustifolia Prunus angustifolia Cherokee plum Photo: CC0, author not stated Prunus apetala Taiwan cherry Prunus armeniaca Prunus armeniaca Apricot Photo: CC BY, Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）Prunus avium Prunus avium Wild cherry Photo: CC0, author not statedPrunus bifrons Prunus bifrons Rosaceae Photo: CC0, Andreas Manz Prunus brachypetala Kurdish mountain cherry Prunus brachystachya Rosaceae Prunus brigantina Prunus brigantina Briançon apricot Photo: CC BY, Tony KM all 126 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Laurocerasus africana; Laurocerasus crassifolia; Pygeum africanum; Pygeum crassifolium. (GBIF Backbone)

Kew accepts as species of their own Prunus crassifolia: older names in GBIF's record of this species that Kew's World Checklist accepts as other species. (WCVP, RBG Kew, file of 2026-06-04)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Rosaceae
Described by
(Hook.f.) Kalkman
Native to
Ghana, Burundi, Cameroon +20
Wild records
539 in range · 448 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 3022853 is Prunus africana (Hook.fil.) Kalkman; the page links Kew's Prunus africana (Hook.f.) Kalkman, 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; 5 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (3 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 -1.00_29.375, lapse-corrected +114 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
Wikimedia Commons commons 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 48 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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