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Rhodognaphalon mossambicense; photograph Drew Avery, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BYDrew Avery, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rhodognaphalon mossambicense (A.Robyns) A.Robyns

Malvaceae · Kenya, Tanzania +1

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

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Rhodognaphalon mossambicense, photograph Drew Avery, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons 2 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
13.2°C
Record low 10.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Nov at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,309mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
29–41DLI
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
Wet summers: the rain comes December to April (the habitat's months, not shifted), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 8 records in 8 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Rhodognaphalon mossambicense, the East African bombax or wild kapok tree, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It occurs from southeastern Kenya through the coastal and Eastern Arc forests of Tanzania to northern Mozambique and Malawi.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Rhodognaphalon mossambicense", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (901 mm of 1,211 mm) falls in December to April, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 25.2 °C against a yearly mean of 23.5 °C). 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

1,211 mm in the median year at the habitat, 901 mm of it December to April. Wettest month January at 223 mm, driest month September at 21 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 938 mm to 1,570 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,309 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,211 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: 29 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 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 13.2 °C, the absolute minimum 10.4 °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 14.9 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 13.3 °C to 19.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 30.6 °C in November (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.2 °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: 58 to 68% 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 +16 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 8 records in 8 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Rhodognaphalon mossambicense through the yearWarmest month November, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 14.9 °C; 1,211 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°40°36.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER10.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 29–41RH 58–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 8 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 °C30 / 27–3130 / 28–3129 / 27–3128 / 24–3027 / 22–2925 / 22–2825 / 21–2726 / 22–2928 / 23–3230 / 24–3331 / 25–3430 / 26–33
Night °C22 / 18–2322 / 18–2321 / 18–2320 / 18–2318 / 16–2216 / 14–2015 / 13–1916 / 14–1917 / 14–2019 / 16–2221 / 17–2322 / 18–23
Rain mm223 / 65–266185 / 46–248170 / 126–219142 / 52–28862 / 21–28724 / 13–11725 / 7–8822 / 9–8821 / 5–7157 / 19–15099 / 61–136181 / 126–240
DLI37 / 36–3936 / 35–4134 / 33–3831 / 29–3329 / 28–3129 / 25–3129 / 25–3131 / 30–3437 / 35–3939 / 36–4241 / 37–4238 / 36–39
RH %66 / 63–6966 / 64–6868 / 64–7068 / 60–7664 / 57–7261 / 56–7060 / 55–6959 / 55–6958 / 54–6959 / 54–7061 / 56–7065 / 60–71
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 8 grid cells holding the 8 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 1965:4321 (-8.275, 36.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.2 °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 8 distinct grid cells holding 8 of the 8 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1965:4321 (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 -8.50_36.250, lapse-corrected +16 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 582 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 keys of the names Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 4073503 (Rhodognaphalon mossambicense (A.Robyns) A.Robyns, 10 records), 4073830 (Bombax mossambicense A.Robyns, 0 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeKenya, Tanzania, Mozambique · 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-5.1, 38.633 · in the densest population, 4 records (50% 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 and the climate across the range rest on all 8 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 1 openly licensed one, which alone would put the marker 80 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the map and the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 4073503 (Rhodognaphalon mossambicense (A.Robyns) A.Robyns): Kew's file holds it as Rhodognaphalon mossambicense (A.Robyns) A.Robyns (accepted); 10 records, from GBIF's download.Records also from GBIF's key 4073830 (Bombax mossambicense A.Robyns): Kew's file holds it as Bombax mossambicense A.Robyns (synonym under Rhodognaphalon mossambicense (A.Robyns) A.Robyns); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
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 8 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Rhodognaphalon mossambicense, photograph 1did not load

Photographs: Drew Avery, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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

Anadenanthera colubrina Anadenanthera colubrina Curupay Photo: CC BY, Marcio Santos FerreiraTillandsia loliacea Tillandsia loliacea Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Ronaldo PedrãoNymphoides indica Nymphoides indica Water snowflake Photo: CC BY, Scott W. Gavins Cyphostemma kirkianum Vitaceae Crossandra puberula Crossandra puberula Velvet Crossandra Photo: CC BY, Dr. Alexey YakovlevMillettia stuhlmannii Millettia stuhlmannii Panga-panga Photo: CC BY, Mahomed Desai

Names & registers

Also known as Bombax rhodognaphalon; Bombax mossambicense; Rhodognaphalon schumannianum; Rhodognaphalon tanganyikense. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Malvaceae
Described by
(A.Robyns) A.Robyns
Native to
Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique
Wild records
8 in range · 1 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 Rhodognaphalon mossambicense (A.Robyns) A.Robyns (plant_name_id 2421993), 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 answeredasked 2026-10-22this 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; 10 records of GBIF's key 4073503, Rhodognaphalon mossambicense (A.Robyns) A.Robyns (Kew's file holds it as Rhodognaphalon mossambicense (A.Robyns) A.Robyns (accepted)): the GBIF download; 0 records of GBIF's key 4073830, Bombax mossambicense A.Robyns (Kew's file holds it as Bombax mossambicense A.Robyns (synonym under Rhodognaphalon mossambicense (A.Robyns) A.Robyns)): GBIF occurrence search API
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -8.50_36.250, lapse-corrected +16 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 112607-1, POWO 112607-1
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 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 3 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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