Species
+

Schinus molle L.

American pepper, California peppertree, Californian Pepper Tree, False Pepper Tree

Climate known 48 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

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

Schinus molle is an evergreen tree in the cashew family (Anacardiaceae) that grows to 15 m. It is native to an area from the Peruvian Andes to southern Brazil. The bright pink fruits of S. molle are often sold as "pink peppercorns", although it is unrelated to black pepper. The word molle in Schinus molle comes from mulli, the Quechua word for the tree. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Schinus molle”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Schinus

Schinus is a genus of flowering trees and tall shrubs in the sumac family, Anacardiaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as pepper trees. The Peruvian pepper tree is the source of the spice known as pink peppercorn.

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

Family
Anacardiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Peru, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast +3
Wild records
160 in range· 79 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Jan, mean day; nights 19 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1067mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Mar 131 mm (CHELSA)
Light
17–44DLI
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: a summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (October to April at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 1067 mm a year, wettest March at 131 mm, driest July at 34 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 44 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 0.2 °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 Schinus bituminosa Salisb.; Schinus molle var. argentifolia Marchand; Schinus molle var. huyngan (Molina) Marchand; Schinus molle var. rusbyi F.A.Barkley; Schinus occidentalis Sessé & Moc.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (October to April at the habitat, southern).

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

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (828 mm of 1067 mm) falls in October to April, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.5 °C against a yearly mean of 17.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to October.

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 1067 mm a year, wettest March at 131 mm, driest July at 34 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1067 mm a year at the habitat, 828 mm of it October to April. Wettest month March at 131 mm, driest July at 34 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 100 mm to 1835 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern 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: 17 to 44 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 44 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 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

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 0.2 °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 0.2 °C, the absolute minimum -3.4 °C, about 3 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 8.0 °C in July (across the envelope cells 4.2 °C to 14.4 °C), warmest day 27.3 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.2 °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: 59 to 62% 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 16 °C in Jul to 27 °C in Jan; mean night from 8 °C in Jul to 19 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1067 mm of rain a year, most in Mar. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 137 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -3.4 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.5 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost38.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)-3.4° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 17–44RH 59–62 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 137 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 °C27 / 17–3127 / 17–3025 / 17–2922 / 17–2619 / 16–2217 / 14–2116 / 13–2018 / 15–2320 / 16–2422 / 17–2625 / 17–2826 / 17–30
Night °C19 / 9–2219 / 9–2118 / 9–2115 / 9–1912 / 7–179 / 5–158 / 4–149 / 5–1511 / 7–1513 / 8–1716 / 9–1818 / 9–20
Rain mm121 / 25–212130 / 26–180131 / 22–173103 / 7–19071 / 3–14740 / 3–13634 / 3–12035 / 4–10559 / 4–154111 / 3–201115 / 4–172117 / 10–180
DLI42 / 35–4738 / 34–4133 / 31–3825 / 23–3720 / 17–3517 / 14–3319 / 16–3424 / 21–3830 / 27–4237 / 34–4443 / 38–4644 / 37–48
RH %61 / 55–7062 / 57–7062 / 58–6962 / 59–6962 / 58–6762 / 56–6661 / 54–6559 / 53–6460 / 53–6560 / 54–6759 / 54–6859 / 55–68

Each figure is the median across the 137 grid cells holding the 158 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 2436:2389 (-31.825, -60.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.5 °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 137 distinct grid cells holding the 158 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2436:2389 (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 -32.00_-60.625, lapse-corrected +40 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 75 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.
NativePeru, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Chile North, Paraguay, Uruguay· introduced: Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Greece, Italy, Sicilia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Canary Is., Madeira, Guinea, Senegal, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Angola, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Free State, Northern Provinces, Ascension, St.Helena, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, Pakistan, Hawaii, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ecuador
Kew's description“tree” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-34.313, -58.991 · in the densest population, 74 records (46% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 160 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 79 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 843 km away. 1302 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 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 inside the densest 4° block of the 160 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Schinus molleSchinus molleSchinus molleSchinus molleSchinus molleSchinus molleSchinus molleSchinus molle

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Csaba Béla Eötvös, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) ramarao, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Tereso Hernández Morales, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Dave Richardson, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist 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 Schinus molle, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Cytotoxic effect of Argentine medicinal plant extracts on human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line
María Julieta Ruffa, Graciela Ferraro, Marcelo L. Wagner, M.L. Calcagno (2002) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Chemical Composition and Anticancer and Antioxidant Activities of Schinus Molle L. and Schin us Terebinthifolius Raddi Berries Essential Oils
Houcine Bendaoud, Mehrez Romdhane, Jean Pierre Souchard, Sylvie Cazaux (2010) · Journal of Food Science
Antidepressant-like effect of rutin isolated from the ethanolic extract from Schinus molle L. in mice: Evidence for the involvement of the serotonergic and noradrenergic systems
Daniele G. Machado, Luis E.B. Bettio, Maurício P. Cunha, Adair R.S. Santos (2008) · European Journal of Pharmacology
Antioxidant, antimicrobial and toxicological properties of Schinus molle L. essential oils
M. Rosário Martins, Sílvia Arantes, Fátima Candeias, María Teresa Tinoco (2013) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of Plants from Northeast of Mexico
Ricardo Salazar‐Aranda, Luis Alejandro Pérez-López, Joel López-Arroyo, Blanca Alicia Alanís Garza (2009) · Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Plantas utilizadas na medicina popular brasileira com potencial atividade antifúngica
Raquel Fenner, Andresa Heemann Betti, Lilian Auler Mentz, Stela Maris Kuze Rates (2006) · Revista Brasileira De Ciencias Farmaceuticas
Antidepressant-like effect of the extract from leaves of Schinus molle L. in mice: Evidence for the involvement of the monoaminergic system
Daniele G. Machado, Manuella P. Kaster, Ricardo W. Binfaré, Munique Dias (2006) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
LD50 and Repellent Effects of Essential Oils from Argentinian Wild Plant Species on Varroa destructor
Sergio Ruffinengo, Martín J. Eguaras, Ignazio Floris, Claudia Faverín (2005) · Journal of Economic Entomology
Volatiles composition and extraction kinetics from Schinus terebinthifolius and Schinus molle leaves and fruit
Adriano dos Santos Cavalcanti, Marcela de Souza Alves, Laurine Cristina Paulo da Silva, Daiane dos Santos Patrocínio (2015) · Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia
Schinus molle L. essential oil-loaded chitosan nanoparticles: Preparation, characterization, antifungal and anti-aflatoxigenic properties
Ana Karenth LÓPEZ-MENESES, Maribel Plascencia‐Jatomea, Jaime Lizardi‐Mendoza, Daniel Fernández‐Quiroz (2018) · LWT

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 Schinus 2 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; 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 113 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.