Species
+

Spondias purpurea L.

Hog Plum, Jamaica Plum, Macaprein, Purple Mombin

Climate known 66 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

Spondias purpurea is a species of flowering plant in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae, that is native to tropical regions of the Americas, from Mexico to northern Colombia and the southwest Caribbean Islands. It has also been introduced to and naturalized to other parts of the American tropics, Southeast Asia, and West Africa. It is commonly known as jocote, which derives from the Nahuatl word xocotl, meaning any kind of sour or acidic fruit. Other common names include red mombin, Spanish plum, purple mombin, Jamaica plum, and hog plum.

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

About the genus · Spondias

Spondias is a genus of flowering plants in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae. The genus consists of 18 described species, eleven of which are native to the tropical Americas, six to Asia and one to Madagascar. They are commonly named hog plums, Spanish plums, Ciruelas in Cuba, libas in Bikol and in some cases golden apples for their brightly colored fruit which resemble an apple or small plum at a casual glance. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Family
Anacardiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +13
Wild records
1200 in range· 823 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Apr, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1292mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Sep 233 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–41DLI
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 sharp rainy season, June to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.9 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1292 mm a year, wettest September at 233 mm, driest February at 15 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 13.6 °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 Spondias cirouella Tussac; Spondias crispula Beurl.; Spondias jocote-amarillo Kosterm.; Spondias lutea Macfad.; Spondias mexicana S.Watson and 7 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, June to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.9 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

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

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1008 mm of 1292 mm) falls in June to October. The temperature curve is flat, 3.9 °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, northern 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 1292 mm a year, wettest September at 233 mm, driest February at 15 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1292 mm a year at the habitat, 1008 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 233 mm, driest February at 15 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 834 mm to 2621 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern 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: 30 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 41 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 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 49).

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 13.6 °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 13.6 °C, the absolute minimum 10.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 18.7 °C in January (across the envelope cells 11.4 °C to 23.6 °C), warmest day 30.8 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.6 °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, without lapse correction; 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: 58 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 27 °C in Jan to 31 °C in Apr; mean night from 19 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1292 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 786 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 10.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.8 °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°40°45°39.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)10.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 30–41RH 58–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 786 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 / 23–3128 / 24–3330 / 25–3331 / 27–3430 / 26–3429 / 25–3329 / 25–3229 / 25–3229 / 24–3128 / 24–3028 / 23–3027 / 23–30
Night °C19 / 11–2419 / 12–2420 / 13–2421 / 15–2522 / 16–2523 / 17–2523 / 16–2523 / 16–2523 / 16–2522 / 15–2421 / 14–2419 / 12–24
Rain mm24 / 6–8315 / 5–7715 / 4–8634 / 2–172110 / 8–297200 / 93–357198 / 122–357211 / 142–365233 / 150–417166 / 69–36256 / 16–23730 / 7–135
DLI32 / 25–3636 / 30–3940 / 34–4541 / 33–4839 / 30–4936 / 30–4136 / 30–4035 / 31–4032 / 29–3631 / 28–3430 / 26–3430 / 24–33
RH %60 / 51–6659 / 50–6558 / 48–6559 / 47–6762 / 50–6965 / 58–7065 / 60–7066 / 60–7067 / 62–7166 / 59–7163 / 55–7062 / 53–68

Each figure is the median across the 786 grid cells holding the 1181 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 1383:1820 (20.825, -88.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.6 °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). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 786 distinct grid cells holding the 1181 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1383:1820 (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 21.00_-88.750, no lapse correction (POWER gave no cell elevation). Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 17 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 Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Jamaica, Southwest Caribbean, Colombia· introduced: Gambia, The, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Bangladesh, Jawa, Philippines, Florida, Bahamas, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Venezuela, Bolivia, Galápagos, Peru, Brazil South
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker15.772, -96.135 · in the densest population, 420 records (35% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1200 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 823 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 32 km away. 238 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 19 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 1200 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Spondias purpureaSpondias purpureaSpondias purpureaSpondias purpureaSpondias purpureaSpondias purpureaSpondias purpureaSpondias purpurea

Photographs: (c) Eric Knight, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Oscar Marín, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (4); (c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

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

Domestication of a Mesoamerican cultivated fruit tree, Spondias purpurea
Allison J. Miller, Barbara A. Schaal (2005) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Diversity of genus Lasiodiplodia associated with perennial tropical fruit plants in northeastern Brazil
I. B. L. Coutinho, F. C. O. Freire, Cristiano S. Lima, Joílson Silva Lima (2016) · Plant Pathology
Effect of temperature on dynamic and steady-state shear rheological properties of siriguela (Spondias purpurea L.) pulp
Pedro Esteves Duarte Augusto, Nello Cristianini, Albert Ibarz (2011) · Journal of Food Engineering
Analysis of volatile composition of siriguela (Spondias purpurea L.) by solid phase microextraction (SPME)
Patricia M. N. Ceva-Antunes, H. R. Bizzo, Alberdan S. Silva, C.P.S. Carvalho (2005) · LWT
The Association between Chromaticity, Phenolics, Carotenoids, and In Vitro Antioxidant Activity of Frozen Fruit Pulp in Brazil: An Application of Chemometrics
Acácio Antônio Ferreira Zielinski, Suélen Ávila, Vivian Cristina Ito, Alessandro Nogueira (2014) · Journal of Food Science
Ultrasound-assisted extraction of bioactive compounds from ciriguela (Spondias purpurea L.) peel: Optimization and comparison with conventional extraction and microwave
Marcony Edson Silva Júnior, Maria Vitória Rolim Lemos Araújo, Anderson Andrade Santana, Flávio Luiz H. Silva (2021) · Arabian Journal of Chemistry
In vitro photoprotective activity of the Spondias purpurea L. peel crude extract and its incorporation in a pharmaceutical formulation
Renata V. Silva, Sônia Carine Cova Costa, Carla Rodrigues Cardoso Branco, Alexsandro Branco (2016) · Industrial Crops and Products
Postharvest physiology and technology of Spondias purpurea L. and S. mombin L
Yanik I. Maldonado-Astudillo, Irán Alia‐Tejacal, Carlos Alberto Núñez-Colín, Javier Jiménez‐Hernández (2014) · Scientia Horticulturae

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 Spondias 1 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 166 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.