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Terminalia amazonia; photograph David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SADavid J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Terminalia amazonia (J.F.Gmel.) Exell

Combretaceae · Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest +17

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

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Terminalia amazonia, photograph David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsTerminalia amazonia, photograph David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 3 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
15.6°C
Record low 9.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Mar and Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,719mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
28–35DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, May to October (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Terminalia amazonia is a species of tree in the Combretaceae family. It is native to North America and South America and has been used for commercial logging. The wood is hard and durable.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Terminalia amazonia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,874 mm of 2,580 mm) falls in May to October. The temperature curve is flat, 2.1 °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 habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,580 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,874 mm of it May to October. Wettest month June at 342 mm, driest month January at 68 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,733 mm to 3,889 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,719 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,580 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: 28 to 35 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 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 15.6 °C, the absolute minimum 9.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 20.2 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 16.0 °C to 23.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.6 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.6 °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: 61 to 68% 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 -288 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

Habitat climate of Terminalia amazonia through the yearWarmest months March and April, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 20.2 °C; 2,580 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, northern hemisphere.5°10°15°20°25°30°35°40°38.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER9.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 28–35RH 61–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 347 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 / 24–3228 / 25–3330 / 27–3330 / 27–3329 / 26–3328 / 26–3128 / 25–3129 / 26–3129 / 26–3128 / 25–3028 / 24–3027 / 24–30
Night °C20 / 16–2321 / 17–2421 / 18–2422 / 19–2423 / 19–2422 / 19–2422 / 18–2422 / 19–2422 / 19–2422 / 18–2321 / 18–2321 / 17–23
Rain mm68 / 17–21182 / 32–20278 / 33–275163 / 40–423257 / 104–526342 / 190–510326 / 168–479319 / 159–453340 / 194–499290 / 170–423196 / 111–319119 / 53–235
DLI31 / 24–3632 / 28–3735 / 30–3834 / 27–4131 / 25–4131 / 23–3732 / 25–3834 / 29–3832 / 29–3730 / 27–3628 / 25–3329 / 22–34
RH %65 / 53–6963 / 53–6861 / 55–6763 / 58–7065 / 59–7267 / 63–7267 / 62–7267 / 62–7268 / 62–7267 / 62–7267 / 62–7266 / 59–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 347 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (583 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), 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 1455:1826 (17.225, -88.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 9.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.8 °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 347 distinct grid cells holding 583 of the 584 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1455:1826 (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 17.00_-88.750, lapse-corrected -288 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 64 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.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the keys of the names Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 3699098 (Chuncoa amazonia J.F.Gmel., 0 records), 3699754 (Terminalia amazonia (J.F.Gmel.) Exell, 2000 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeMexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Trinidad-Tobago, French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil Northeast, Brazil North · 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 marker4.885, -73.269 · in the densest population, 462 records (41% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1137 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 583 of them in the land cells it reads, of 584 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 752 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2245 km away. 3 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 553 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.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 3699098 (Chuncoa amazonia J.F.Gmel.): Kew's file holds it as Chuncoa amazonia J.F.Gmel. (synonym under Terminalia amazonia (J.F.Gmel.) Exell); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 3699754 (Terminalia amazonia (J.F.Gmel.) Exell): Kew's file holds it as Terminalia amazonia (J.F.Gmel.) Exell (accepted); 2,000 records, from GBIF's download.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1137 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Terminalia amazonia, photograph 1did not loadTerminalia amazonia, photograph 2did not load

Photographs: David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2).

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

Hyptis brevipes Hyptis brevipes Lesser roundweed Photo: CC BY, James HardeePolystachya foliosa Polystachya foliosa Lesser yellowspike orchid Photo: CC BY, Letizia WeichgrebeTrichilia pallida Trichilia pallida Gaita Photo: CC BY, Giovanny VargasCalophyllum brasiliense Calophyllum brasiliense Santa maria Photo: CC BY, Gabriel FernandesPterocarpus rohrii Pterocarpus rohrii Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezAnatherum bicorne Anatherum bicorne Poaceae Photo: CC BY, Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada

Other Terminalia 34 in the reference

Terminalia anogeissiana Terminalia anogeissiana Indian Sumac Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaTerminalia argentea Terminalia argentea Combretaceae Photo: CC BY, Thomaz Ricardo Favreto SinaniTerminalia arjuna Terminalia arjuna Arjun Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaTerminalia australis Terminalia australis Combretaceae Photo: CC BY, Andrea GantzerTerminalia bellirica Terminalia bellirica Beleric myrobalan Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaTerminalia bentzoe Terminalia bentzoe Combretaceae Photo: CC BY, Adrien JaillouxTerminalia boivinii Terminalia boivinii Combretaceae Photo: CC BY, Stuart CableTerminalia brownii Terminalia brownii Combretaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, HENRY NJUGUNATerminalia buceras Terminalia buceras Black olive Photo: CC0, author not statedTerminalia calamansanai Terminalia calamansanai Combretaceae Photo: CC BY, T R Shankar RamanTerminalia catappa Terminalia catappa Tropical almond Photo: CC BY, Sabarni SarkerTerminalia chebula Terminalia chebula Myrobalan Photo: CC BY-SA, Dinesh Valke all 35 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Bucida buceras var. angustifolia; Terminalia excelsa; Buceras angustifolium; Chuncoa obovata; Chuncoa amazonia and 6 more. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Combretaceae
Described by
(J.F.Gmel.) Exell
Native to
Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast +16
Wild records
1137 in range · 752 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
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Terminalia amazonia (J.F.Gmel.) Exell (plant_name_id 2431494), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 0 records of GBIF's key 3699098, Chuncoa amazonia J.F.Gmel. (Kew's file holds it as Chuncoa amazonia J.F.Gmel. (synonym under Terminalia amazonia (J.F.Gmel.) Exell)): GBIF occurrence search API; 2000 records of GBIF's key 3699754, Terminalia amazonia (J.F.Gmel.) Exell (Kew's file holds it as Terminalia amazonia (J.F.Gmel.) Exell (accepted)): the GBIF download; 6 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (6 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 17.00_-88.750, lapse-corrected -288 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 250537-2, POWO 250537-2
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 161 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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