Species
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Schizolobium parahyba (Vell.) S.F.Blake

Brazilian Firetree, Brazilian fern tree, Brazilian fern tree, Brazilian firetree

Climate known 56 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

Schizolobium parahyba, the Brazilian firetree, or Brazilian fern tree, is a species of tree from tropical America. It is the sole species in genus Schizolobium. It is notable for its fast growth. Under optimal conditions it may reach 30 meters high in only five years, which would make it one of the fastest growing trees ever.

Text from Wikipedia, “Schizolobium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Schizolobium

Schizolobium parahyba, the Brazilian firetree, or Brazilian fern tree, is a species of tree from tropical America. It is the sole species in genus Schizolobium. It is notable for its fast growth. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Schizolobium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
(Vell.) S.F.Blake
Native to
Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast +15
Wild records
1159 in range· 662 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Mar, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1824mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 188 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–35DLI
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: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to March and June at the habitat (not shifted)). Habitat rain 1824 mm a year, wettest October at 188 mm, driest August at 111 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 16.2 °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 Caesalpinia parahyba Allemão; Cassia parahyba Vell.; Schizolobium amazonicum Huber; Schizolobium amazonicum Huber ex Ducke; Schizolobium excelsum Vogel and 7 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to March and June at the habitat (not shifted)).

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

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (1339 mm of 1824 mm) takes 8 months, September to March and June. Mean temperature moves 2.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

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 1824 mm a year, wettest October at 188 mm, driest August at 111 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1824 mm a year at the habitat, 1339 mm of it September to March and June. Wettest month October at 188 mm, driest August at 111 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1366 mm to 3329 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: 27 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 35 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 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

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 16.2 °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 16.2 °C, the absolute minimum 12.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 18.4 °C in July (across the envelope cells 11.7 °C to 23.5 °C), warmest day 28.2 °C in March (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 16.2 °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: 64 to 67% 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 26 °C in Jun to 28 °C in Mar; mean night from 18 °C in Jul to 21 °C in Apr. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1824 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 830 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 12.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 30.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°30.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)12.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 27–35RH 64–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 830 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 °C28 / 24–3028 / 25–3128 / 25–3128 / 24–3227 / 22–3126 / 20–3026 / 20–3027 / 21–3127 / 22–3027 / 23–3027 / 24–2927 / 24–30
Night °C20 / 17–2321 / 17–2420 / 18–2421 / 16–2420 / 14–2419 / 12–2418 / 12–2419 / 13–2419 / 14–2320 / 16–2320 / 17–2320 / 17–23
Rain mm174 / 28–312157 / 28–268162 / 41–285117 / 61–325130 / 60–369133 / 29–385127 / 19–409111 / 27–414164 / 63–451188 / 109–418177 / 120–325184 / 66–293
DLI34 / 25–3735 / 29–3834 / 29–3830 / 25–4027 / 20–3927 / 18–3628 / 19–3831 / 24–3832 / 26–3632 / 27–3732 / 25–3832 / 24–37
RH %65 / 61–7065 / 60–7064 / 59–7065 / 59–7065 / 59–7165 / 59–7164 / 57–7164 / 55–7166 / 57–7166 / 59–7267 / 61–7266 / 62–70

Each figure is the median across the 830 grid cells holding the 1120 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 1526:1815 (13.675, -89.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 12.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 16.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.6 °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 830 distinct grid cells holding the 1120 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1526:1815 (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 13.50_-89.375, lapse-corrected +551 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 823 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.
NativeMexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South· introduced: Congo, Zaïre, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, India, Jawa, Philippines, Sumatera, Puerto Rico, Windward Is.
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-22.906, -47.061 · in the densest population, 381 records (33% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1159 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 662 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 97 km away. 73 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 39 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 1159 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Schizolobium parahybaSchizolobium parahybaSchizolobium parahybaSchizolobium parahybaSchizolobium parahybaSchizolobium parahybaSchizolobium parahybaSchizolobium parahyba

Photographs: (c) Victor Farjalla Pontes, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Júlio Castellain, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Paulo C. O. Cunha, 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 Schizolobium parahyba, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Seasonal development of secondary xylem and phloem in Schizolobium parahyba (Vell.) Blake (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae)
Carmen Regina Marcati, Camilla Rozindo Dias Milanez, Sílvia Rodrigues Machado (2007) · Trees
Enrichment planting in logging gaps with Schizolobium parahyba var. amazonicum (Huber ex Ducke) Barneby: A financially profitable alternative for degraded tropical forests in the Amazon
Gustavo Schwartz, Paulo Cezar Gomes Pereira, Marco Antônio Siviero, José Francisco Pereira (2017) · Forest Ecology and Management
Inoculation of Schizolobium parahyba with Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria Increases Wood Yield under Field Conditions
Martha Viviana Torres Cely, Marco Antônio Siviero, Janaína Emiliano, Flávia Regina Spago (2016) · Frontiers in Plant Science
Leaf optical properties as affected by shade in saplings of six tropical tree species differing in successional status
Rogéria Pereira Souza, I.F.M. Válio (2003) · Brazilian Journal of Plant Physiology
Water absorption and dormancy-breaking requirements of physically dormant seeds of Schizolobium parahyba (Fabaceae – Caesalpinioideae)
Thaysi Ventura de Souza, Caroline Heinig Voltolini, Marisa Santos, Maria Terezinha Silveira Paulilo (2012) · Seed Science Research
Temporal dynamics of allochthonous coarse particulate organic matter in a subtropical Atlantic rainforest Brazilian stream
Leonardo Kleba Lisboa, Aurea Luiza Lemes da Silva, Ana Emília Siegloch, José Francisco Gonçalves (2015) · Marine and Freshwater Research
Large-scale phylogeography of the disjunct Neotropical tree species Schizolobium parahyba (Fabaceae-Caesalpinioideae)
Andreia Carina Turchetto‐Zolet, Fernanda da Cruz, Giovanni G. Vendramin, Marcelo Fragomeni Simon (2012) · Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Protective Effect of Schizolobium parahyba Flavonoids Against Snake Venoms and Isolated Toxins
Luis Henrique Ferreira do Vale, Mirian Machado Mendes, Renata S. Fernandes, Tássia R. Costa (2011) · Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry
Neutralization of Pharmacological and Toxic Activities of Bothrops Snake Venoms by Schizolobium parahyba (Fabaceae) Aqueous Extract and Its Fractions
Luis Henrique Ferreira do Vale, Mirian Machado Mendes, Amélia Hamaguchi, Andreimar M. Soares (2008) · Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology
Anti‐snake venom properties of Schizolobium parahyba (Caesalpinoideae) aqueous leaves extract
Mirian Machado Mendes, Carolina Ferreira de Oliveira, Daiana Silva Lopes, Luis Henrique Ferreira do Vale (2008) · Phytotherapy Research

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.

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 197 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.