82 photographs › At a glance
- Jan, under 5 mm of rain
- Feb, under 5 mm of rain
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun, shaded
- Jul, shaded
- Aug, shaded
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Summary
Tabernaemontana alternifolia is a species of plant in the family Apocynaceae. It is endemic to India.
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Tabernaemontana alternifolia", CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the genus · Tabernaemontana
Tabernaemontana is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae. It has a pan-tropical distribution, found in Asia, Africa, Australia, North America, South America, and islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. These plants are evergreen shrubs and small trees growing to 1–15 m tall. More on Wikipedia ›
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Tabernaemontana", CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cultivation
Seasons
The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,402 mm of 3,252 mm) falls in June to August. The temperature curve is flat, 3.4 °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. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.
Rain
3,252 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,402 mm of it June to August. Wettest month July at 1,016 mm, driest month February at 1 mm; 2 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,859 mm to 4,807 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,577 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 3,252 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.
Light
Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 42 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 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).
Warmth and air
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 14.5 °C, the absolute minimum 11.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 18.6 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 15.5 °C to 23.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 32.7 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).
Relative humidity at the habitat: 52 to 76% 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 -45 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, northern hemisphere
Mean daily high from 26 °C in Jul and Aug to 33 °C in Mar and Apr; mean nightly low from 19 °C in Jan, Feb and Dec to 23 °C in Apr, May and Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low, centred on the 3 months in a row that tie for it. 3,252 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added), the wettest month Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 141 habitat cells. Over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER) the absolute minimum was 11.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.3 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.
Figures by month
| Figure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 30 / 28–32 | 31 / 29–33 | 33 / 30–34 | 33 / 30–34 | 31 / 29–33 | 28 / 25–29 | 26 / 24–28 | 26 / 24–28 | 27 / 25–29 | 28 / 27–30 | 29 / 27–31 | 29 / 27–32 |
| Night °C | 19 / 16–23 | 19 / 16–24 | 21 / 18–25 | 23 / 20–26 | 23 / 21–26 | 23 / 20–25 | 22 / 20–24 | 22 / 20–24 | 22 / 19–24 | 22 / 19–24 | 21 / 17–24 | 19 / 16–23 |
| Rain mm | 3 / 1–22 | 1 / 1–32 | 13 / 3–77 | 34 / 8–173 | 132 / 73–277 | 736 / 363–1107 | 1016 / 327–1705 | 650 / 238–1158 | 351 / 190–503 | 248 / 148–369 | 58 / 36–230 | 10 / 6–62 |
| DLI | 36 / 35–38 | 40 / 39–41 | 42 / 41–43 | 42 / 37–45 | 38 / 32–42 | 25 / 21–29 | 22 / 17–29 | 23 / 19–31 | 29 / 26–33 | 31 / 29–33 | 33 / 29–34 | 33 / 32–34 |
| RH % | 52 / 49–60 | 53 / 47–60 | 57 / 51–61 | 62 / 57–66 | 65 / 61–71 | 73 / 69–80 | 76 / 69–84 | 75 / 69–83 | 72 / 67–77 | 66 / 62–70 | 57 / 53–67 | 53 / 49–62 |
How this section is made
Natural habitat
How this section is made
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Ashwin A, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Dinesh Valke, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (3).
Related
Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.
Terminalia paniculata Flowering murdah Photo: CC BY-SA, deepachandran
Bridelia stipularis Climbing Bridelia Photo: CC BY, Nguyen-Khanh-Trinh Tram
Holigarna arnottiana Black Varnish Tree Photo: CC BY-SA, Dinesh Valke
Smilax zeylanica Smilacaceae Photo: CC BY, renjus box
Ensete superbum Rock Banana Photo: CC BY, rajesh rocky
Ochna obtusata Ochnaceae Photo: CC BY, Harsha JayaramaiahOther Tabernaemontana 21 in the reference
Tabernaemontana africana Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY, pbsg
Tabernaemontana alba White milkwood Photo: CC BY, Erick Vélez Sánchez
Tabernaemontana amygdalifolia Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY, Carlos Domínguez-Rodríguez Tabernaemontana aurantiaca Apocynaceae 
Tabernaemontana catharinensis Pinwheel-flower Photo: CC BY, JG
Tabernaemontana corymbosa Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY, Greg III Espera
Tabernaemontana crassa Adam's-apple-flower Photo: CC BY-SA, Saint Fédriche NDZAI Tabernaemontana cymosa Apocynaceae 
Tabernaemontana dichotoma Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY, Ewen Cameron
Tabernaemontana divaricata Pinwheelflower Photo: CC BY, Sabarni Sarker
Tabernaemontana donnell-smithii Horse balls Photo: CC BY-SA, Jalil R.
Tabernaemontana elegans Low-veld toadtree Photo: CC BY, jk6000 all 22 ›Names & registers
Also known as Ervatamia alternifolia; Ervatamia heyneana; Pagiantha crispa; Pagiantha heyneana; Tabernaemontana crispa and 5 more. (GBIF Backbone)
The record
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 answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21climate answeredasked 2026-10-22climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 15.00_74.375, lapse-corrected -45 m at 6.5 °C/kmwikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22inat.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 2026-10-22inat.photos.cultivated not askedgbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshotEvery 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 20 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.