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Sterculia murex; photograph (c) Justin Ponder, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Justin Ponder, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2023-09-01

Sterculia murex Hemsl.

Lowveld Star-chestnut

Malvaceae · Northern Provinces

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Sterculia murex, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedSterculia murex, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedSterculia murex, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedSterculia murex, photograph (c) Justin Ponder, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sterculia murex, photograph (c) Justin Ponder, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sterculia murex, photograph (c) Justin Ponder, some rights reserved (CC BY) 41 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
6.0°C
Record low 1.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Jan and Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
836mm
8 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
24–38DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  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 May to September (November to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Sterculia murex Hemsl. or lowveld chestnut is a southern African tree in the family Malvaceae, and the subfamily Sterculioideae. It has a very limited distribution in the lowveld of eastern Mpumalanga. After S. alexandri it is the most southern representative of the genus in Africa. Kew currently recognises some 92 species of Sterculia, confined to the tropics and slightly beyond at low elevations.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sterculia murex", CC BY-SA 4.0.

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 ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sterculia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (628 mm of 827 mm) falls in November to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 22.6 °C against a yearly mean of 19.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to September.

Rain

827 mm in the median year at the habitat, 628 mm of it November to March. Wettest months (2 at 139 mm), driest months (2 at 10 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 638 mm to 984 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 836 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 827 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: 24 to 38 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 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 6.0 °C, the absolute minimum 1.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 7.7 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 5.1 °C to 10.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.7 °C in January (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 6.0 °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: 54 to 62% 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 -38 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

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Sterculia murex through the yearWarmest months January and February, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 7.7 °C; 827 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.0°10°20°30°40°50°39.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER1.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 24–38RH 54–62%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 33 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 °C28 / 26–3028 / 26–3027 / 25–2925 / 23–2823 / 21–2621 / 19–2421 / 19–2423 / 21–2525 / 24–2826 / 24–2826 / 25–2927 / 26–30
Night °C19 / 16–2119 / 16–2117 / 15–2015 / 12–1711 / 9–148 / 6–118 / 5–1110 / 7–1212 / 10–1515 / 13–1716 / 14–1818 / 16–20
Rain mm139 / 106–165139 / 100–169102 / 82–12954 / 41–6815 / 13–1910 / 8–1310 / 8–1312 / 10–1527 / 17–3271 / 47–84120 / 94–142128 / 107–156
DLI38 / 37–3936 / 36–3733 / 32–3429 / 28–3026 / 25–2724 / 23–2525 / 24–2628 / 28–2933 / 32–3433 / 32–3435 / 34–3637 / 37–38
RH %62 / 58–6362 / 59–6361 / 58–6360 / 57–6156 / 55–5854 / 53–5654 / 53–5654 / 53–5555 / 53–5658 / 55–6061 / 57–6262 / 58–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 33 grid cells holding the 68 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 2309:4221 (-25.475, 31.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 1.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 6.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.3 °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 33 distinct grid cells holding 68 of the 68 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2309:4221 (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 -25.50_31.250, lapse-corrected -38 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 609 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.
NativeNorthern Provinces · 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-25.412, 31.121 · in the densest population, 103 records (96% 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 rests on all 107 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 68 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 48 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 9 km away. 39 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 107 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Sterculia murex, photograph 1did not loadSterculia murex, photograph 2did not loadSterculia murex, photograph 3did not loadSterculia murex, photograph 4did not loadSterculia murex, photograph 5did not loadSterculia murex, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Justin Ponder, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

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

Streptocarpus pole-evansii Streptocarpus pole-evansii Gesneriaceae Photo: CC BY, katuchkaCeropegia gracilior Ceropegia gracilior Apocynaceae Photo: CC0, rosshawkinsAloe spicata Aloe spicata Gazaland aloe Photo: CC BY, Patrick JacksonAdenia digitata Adenia digitata Wild Granadilla Photo: CC0, author not statedVepris reflexa Vepris reflexa Rock White Ironwood Photo: CC0, author not statedLedebouria cremnophila Ledebouria cremnophila Krantz African hyacinth Photo: CC BY-SA, Andrew Hankey

Other Sterculia 22 in the reference

Sterculia africana Sterculia africana Large-leaved Star-Chestnut Photo: CC BY, Павлик ЛисицынSterculia alexandri Sterculia alexandri Cape Star-chestnut Photo: CC BY, Karen EichholzSterculia apetala Sterculia apetala Panama tree Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezSterculia balanghas Sterculia balanghas Malvaceae Photo: CC BY, renjus box Sterculia brevissima Malvaceae Sterculia ceramica Sterculia ceramica Malvaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedSterculia cordata Sterculia cordata Malvaceae Photo: CC BY, Ganjar CahyadiSterculia foetida Sterculia foetida Hazel sterculia Photo: CC BY, Karthik ThrikkadeeriSterculia guttata Sterculia guttata Spotted Sterculia Photo: CC BY, rajesh rocky Sterculia hainanensis Malvaceae Sterculia lanceolata Sterculia lanceolata Malvaceae Photo: CC BY, Toby YSterculia macrophylla Sterculia macrophylla Malvaceae Photo: CC BY, Steven Bodzin all 23 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Malvaceae
Described by
Hemsl.
Native to
Northern Provinces
Wild records
107 in range · 48 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
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -25.50_31.250, lapse-corrected -38 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
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 9 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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