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Pterocarpus angolensis; photograph (c) Timothy Whitehead, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Timothy Whitehead, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-06-14

Pterocarpus angolensis DC.

Bloodwood Tree; Mukwa; Transvaal-teak; Bleedwoodtree

Fabaceae · Congo, Zaïre +12

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Pterocarpus angolensis, photograph (c) Timothy Whitehead, some rights reserved (CC BY)Pterocarpus angolensis, photograph (c) Bruno - Yolande Zanette, some rights reserved (CC BY)Pterocarpus angolensis, photograph (c) Bruno - Yolande Zanette, some rights reserved (CC BY)Pterocarpus angolensis, photograph (c) Bruno - Yolande Zanette, some rights reserved (CC BY)Pterocarpus angolensis, photograph (c) Bruno - Yolande Zanette, some rights reserved (CC BY)Pterocarpus angolensis, photograph (c) Kristof Zyskowski, some rights reserved (CC BY) 66 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
6.2°C
Record low 0.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Oct at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
833mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
30–43DLI
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 June to September (December to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Pterocarpus angolensis (African teak, wild teak, Portuguese: Girassonde, Afrikaans: Kiaat, Sotho: Morôtô, Tswana: Mokwa, Venda: Mutondo, Shona: Mukwa, Tsonga: Mvhangase, Ndebele: Umvangazi, Shona: Mubvamaropa, Zulu: Umvangazi) is a species of Pterocarpus native to southern Africa, in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. It is a protected tree in South Africa. The name Kiaat, although Afrikaans, is sometimes used outside South Africa as well. In Zimbabwe, depending on the region, it is known as Mukwa (which it is also called in Zambia) or Mubvamaropa.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Pterocarpus angolensis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Pterocarpus

Pterocarpus is a pantropical tree genus in the Fabaceae family. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic Pterocarpus clade within the Dalbergieae. Most species of Pterocarpus yield valuable timber traded as padauk, usually pronounced or ; other common names are Mukwa (Africa) or Narra (Asia).

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (574 mm of 762 mm) falls in December to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 22.5 °C against a yearly mean of 20.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: June to September.

Rain

762 mm in the median year at the habitat, 574 mm of it December to March. Wettest month January at 165 mm, driest months (2 at 1 mm); 3 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 562 mm to 1,233 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 833 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 762 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: 30 to 43 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 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 6.2 °C, the absolute minimum 0.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 9.2 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 6.1 °C to 12.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.3 °C in October (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 6.2 °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: 48 to 63% 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 +4 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 Pterocarpus angolensis through the yearWarmest month October, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 9.2 °C; 762 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.-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°frost39.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER0.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 30–43RH 48–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 413 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 °C27 / 25–2927 / 25–2927 / 25–2926 / 23–2925 / 21–2723 / 19–2623 / 19–2625 / 22–2928 / 24–3229 / 24–3428 / 25–3228 / 25–31
Night °C18 / 16–2018 / 16–2018 / 15–1916 / 13–1813 / 9–1510 / 7–139 / 6–1312 / 8–1415 / 11–1717 / 13–2018 / 14–2118 / 16–20
Rain mm165 / 131–261153 / 110–232111 / 80–19840 / 20–737 / 2–232 / 0–171 / 0–141 / 0–165 / 2–3235 / 14–8897 / 57–146145 / 94–235
DLI38 / 33–4137 / 34–3935 / 32–3835 / 29–3733 / 26–3530 / 23–3431 / 24–3537 / 28–3942 / 33–4443 / 33–4641 / 35–4438 / 35–42
RH %62 / 59–6763 / 59–6762 / 58–6658 / 51–6254 / 46–5853 / 44–5752 / 42–5649 / 39–5548 / 38–5651 / 43–6056 / 50–6361 / 56–65
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 413 grid cells holding the 636 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 2148:4014 (-17.425, 20.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 0.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 6.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.8 °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 413 distinct grid cells holding 636 of the 636 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2148:4014 (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 -17.50_20.625, lapse-corrected +4 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1103 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.
NativeCongo, Zaïre, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Caprivi Strip, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces · 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-25.625, 31.125 · in the densest population, 243 records (24% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1030 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 636 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 503 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 48 km away. 5 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 394 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 1030 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Pterocarpus angolensis, photograph 1did not loadPterocarpus angolensis, photograph 2did not loadPterocarpus angolensis, photograph 3did not loadPterocarpus angolensis, photograph 4did not loadPterocarpus angolensis, photograph 5did not loadPterocarpus angolensis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Timothy Whitehead, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Bruno - Yolande Zanette, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Kristof Zyskowski, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Linzia glabra Linzia glabra Cornflower Vernonia Photo: CC0, author not statedThespesia garckeana Thespesia garckeana Malvaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony RebeloVitex payos Vitex payos Mutsubvu Photo: CC BY, i_c_riddellAloe cryptopoda Aloe cryptopoda Spire aloe Photo: CC BY, i_c_riddellCyphostemma rhodesiae Cyphostemma rhodesiae Vitaceae Photo: CC BY, i_c_riddell Commiphora mossambicensis Pepper-Leaved Commiphora

Other Pterocarpus 10 in the reference

Pterocarpus dalbergioides Pterocarpus dalbergioides East Indian mahogany Photo: CC BY, P JeganathanPterocarpus indicus Pterocarpus indicus Amboyna wood Photo: CC BY, 謝麗霦Pterocarpus macrocarpus Pterocarpus macrocarpus Burma padauk Photo: CC BY, Utain PummarinPterocarpus marsupium Pterocarpus marsupium Malabar kino Photo: CC BY, rajesh rockyPterocarpus officinalis Pterocarpus officinalis Dragonsblood tree Photo: CC BY, keesgroenendijkPterocarpus rohrii Pterocarpus rohrii Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezPterocarpus rotundifolius Pterocarpus rotundifolius Round-leaved Bloodwood Photo: CC BY, Shedron MukhumoPterocarpus santalinoides Pterocarpus santalinoides Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Sunday Berlioz KAKPOPterocarpus santalinus Pterocarpus santalinus Red sandalwood Photo: CC0, author not statedPterocarpus vidalianus Pterocarpus vidalianus Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, M108t

Names & registers

Also known as Pterocarpus bussei; Pterocarpus dekindtianus; Pterocarpus dekindtianus var. latifoliolatus. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
DC.
Native to
Congo, Zaïre, Tanzania +11
Wild records
1030 in range · 503 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; 6 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (6 at a botanic garden or arboretum; 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 -17.50_20.625, lapse-corrected +4 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 52 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…