Species
+

Sterculia foetida L.

Hazel Sterculia, Hazel Sterculia (EN), Indian-almond, Java Olive

Climate known 67 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

Sterculia foetida is a soft-wooded tree that can grow up to 35 metres tall. Common names for the plant are the bastard poon tree, Java olive tree, hazel sterculia, wild almond tree, and skunk tree.

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

About the genus · Sterculia

Sterculia is a genus of about 180 species of flowering plants in the hibiscus family Malvaceae, subfamily Sterculioideae. It was formerly placed in the now obsolete family Sterculiaceae. Members of the genus are colloquially known as tropical chestnuts. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Family
Malvaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Assam, Bangladesh, India +10
Wild records
518 in range· 298 open

At a glance

Warmest month
33°C
Apr, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1300mm/yr
8 wet months · peak Jul 233 mm (CHELSA)
Light
29–42DLI
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 rainy season, June to October in the northern hemisphere, at the year's mean temperature, so called neither winter nor summer. Habitat rain 1300 mm a year, wettest July at 233 mm, driest January at 13 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 42 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 17.9 °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 Clompanus foetida (L.) Kuntze; Sterculia mexicana var. guianensis Sagot; Sterculia polyphylla R.Br.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a rainy season, June to October in the northern hemisphere, at the year's mean temperature, so called neither winter nor summer.

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

The rain rule reads a rainy season with no name: 70% of the year's rain (997 mm of 1300 mm) falls in June to October, whose mean temperature, 27.0 °C, is within half a degree of the year's, 26.7 °C, so it is neither the cooler nor the warmer part of the year. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

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 1300 mm a year, wettest July at 233 mm, driest January at 13 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1300 mm a year at the habitat, 997 mm of it June to October. Wettest month July at 233 mm, driest January at 13 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 866 mm to 3088 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: 29 to 42 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 42 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 46).

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 17.9 °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 17.9 °C, the absolute minimum 14.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 20.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells 13.9 °C to 24.9 °C), warmest day 32.5 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 17.9 °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: 57 to 66% 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 28 °C in Dec to 33 °C in Apr; mean night from 21 °C in Jan to 26 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1300 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 306 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 14.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.2 °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°39.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)14.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter02004006008001000mm rainDLI 29–42RH 57–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 306 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 / 26–3030 / 27–3232 / 28–3533 / 29–3732 / 28–3830 / 27–3529 / 26–3228 / 26–3229 / 27–3229 / 27–3128 / 27–3128 / 26–30
Night °C21 / 14–2521 / 16–2523 / 19–2625 / 21–2726 / 22–2826 / 22–2825 / 21–2725 / 21–2624 / 21–2624 / 20–2622 / 17–2521 / 15–25
Rain mm13 / 2–19918 / 1–13922 / 1–17149 / 2–170103 / 19–256161 / 60–599233 / 77–824219 / 72–576205 / 86–380179 / 37–31174 / 14–30824 / 3–234
DLI33 / 30–3738 / 34–4041 / 38–4442 / 37–4639 / 33–4533 / 26–3729 / 24–3429 / 24–3631 / 28–3732 / 29–3630 / 27–3330 / 27–34
RH %57 / 50–6558 / 48–6560 / 46–6561 / 46–6662 / 47–6764 / 56–7065 / 59–7166 / 60–7165 / 62–6964 / 57–6962 / 51–6760 / 50–66

Each figure is the median across the 306 grid cells holding the 500 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 1644:5218 (7.775, 80.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 14.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 17.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.2 °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 306 distinct grid cells holding the 500 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1644:5218 (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 8.00_80.625, lapse-corrected -30 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 91 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.
NativeAssam, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Philippines, Sumatera· introduced: Gulf of Guinea Is., Comoros, Hainan, China Southeast, Pakistan, Cuba, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is.
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker11.929, 79.833 · in the densest population, 278 records (54% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 518 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 298 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 220 km away. 160 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 18 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 518 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Sterculia foetidaSterculia foetidaSterculia foetidaSterculia foetidaSterculia foetidaSterculia foetidaSterculia foetidaSterculia foetida

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Karthik Thrikkadeeri, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Raja Sekhar Chimirala, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Ashwin A, 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 Sterculia foetida, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Production and comparative fuel properties of biodiesel from non-edible oils: Jatropha curcas, Sterculia foetida and Ceiba pentandra
Hwai Chyuan Ong, A.S. Silitonga, H.H. Masjuki, T.M.I. Mahlia (2013) · Energy Conversion and Management
Carbocyclic fatty acids in plants: Biochemical and molecular genetic characterization of cyclopropane fatty acid synthesis of Sterculia foetida
Xiaoming Bao, Sue Katz, Mike Pollard, John B. Ohlrogge (2002) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Detailed analysis on sterculia foetida kernel oil as renewable fuel in compression ignition engine
Nalla Bhanu Teja, Yuvarajan Devarajan, Ruby Mishra, S. Sivasaravanan (2021) · Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery
Inhibition of Fatty Acyl Desaturase by Cyclopropene Fatty Acids
P. K. Raju, Raymond Reiser (1967) · Journal of Biological Chemistry
Characterization of cyclopropenoid acids in selected seed oils
T. L. Wilson, C. R. Smith, K. L. Mikolajczak (1961) · Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society
Preparation and Evaluation of Biodiesel from Sterculia foetida Seed Oil
Ch Bindhu, J. Satyanarayana Reddy, B. V. S. K. Rao, T. Ravinder (2011) · Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society
Production of biodiesel from Sterculia foetida and its process optimization
A.S. Silitonga, Hwai Chyuan Ong, H.H. Masjuki, T.M.I. Mahlia (2013) · Fuel
Sterculic Acid: The Mechanisms of Action beyond Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase Inhibition and Therapeutic Opportunities in Human Diseases
Rafael Peláez, Ana Pariente, Álvaro Pérez-Sala, Ignacio M. Larráyoz (2020) · Cells
Fatty Acid and Lipide Distribution in Egg Yolks from Hens Fed Cottonseed Oil or Sterculia foetida Seeds
Robert J. Evans, J.A. Davidson, Selma L. Bandemer (1961) · Journal of Nutrition

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 Sterculia 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 73 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.