Species
+

Terminalia catappa L.

Alman Tree, Almendra (ES); West Indian almond, Almendron, Almond

Climate known 65 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

Terminalia catappa is a large tropical tree in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae, native to Asia, Australia, the Pacific, Madagascar and Seychelles. Common names in English include country almond, Indian almond, Malabar almond, sea almond, tropical almond, beach almond and false kamani.

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

Family
Combretaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Comoros, Madagascar, Hainan +44
Wild records
681 in range· 489 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Apr, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1674mm/yr
11 wet months · peak Jul 230 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–40DLI
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, May to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.7 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1674 mm a year, wettest July at 230 mm, driest January at 22 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 20.0 °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 Buceras catappa (L.) Hitchc.; Bucida buceras Sieber; Bucida buceras Sieber ex C.Presl; Juglans catappa (L.) Lour.; Myrobalanus badamia Poir. and 26 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.7 °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 (1262 mm of 1674 mm) falls in May to October. The temperature curve is flat, 1.7 °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, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there 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 1674 mm a year, wettest July at 230 mm, driest January at 22 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1674 mm a year at the habitat, 1262 mm of it May to October. Wettest month July at 230 mm, driest January at 22 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 882 mm to 3515 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 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 40 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 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

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 20.0 °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 20.0 °C, the absolute minimum 17.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 27.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 22.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells 14.7 °C to 25.4 °C), warmest day 30.2 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 20.0 °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: 60 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 30 °C in Apr; mean night from 22 °C in Jan to 25 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1674 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 468 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 17.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 27.9 °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°27.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)17.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 30–40RH 60–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 468 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 / 22–3129 / 22–3230 / 24–3530 / 25–3630 / 25–3628 / 24–3328 / 24–3128 / 24–3128 / 25–3128 / 25–3028 / 25–3028 / 22–30
Night °C22 / 15–2523 / 16–2624 / 18–2625 / 21–2625 / 21–2725 / 20–2724 / 20–2724 / 20–2724 / 20–2624 / 20–2523 / 18–2522 / 15–25
Rain mm22 / 3–37030 / 4–35158 / 12–340105 / 19–263182 / 30–280217 / 58–612230 / 54–577223 / 46–459211 / 51–365199 / 46–372144 / 25–30153 / 7–295
DLI35 / 23–3937 / 26–4140 / 32–4338 / 31–4435 / 28–4331 / 25–3630 / 24–3731 / 25–3633 / 29–3832 / 29–4231 / 25–4232 / 22–41
RH %60 / 52–6761 / 50–6762 / 49–6763 / 53–6865 / 56–6866 / 58–7166 / 60–7166 / 60–7065 / 61–6964 / 59–6964 / 55–6862 / 53–67

Each figure is the median across the 468 grid cells holding the 670 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 2204:6995 (-20.225, 169.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 17.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 20.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 27.9 °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 468 distinct grid cells holding the 670 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2204:6995 (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 -20.00_170.000, lapse-corrected +106 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 109 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.
NativeComoros, Madagascar, Hainan, China Southeast, Kazan-retto, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Maldives, Nepal, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Cocos (Keeling) I., Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Christmas I., Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Northern Territory, Queensland, Fiji, Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is.· introduced: Cape Verde, Benin, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Chad, Somalia, Mozambique, Chagos Archipelago, Mauritius, Mozambique Channel Is., Réunion, Seychelles, Laccadive Is., Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Gilbert Is., Cook Is., Line Is., Marquesas, Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Wake I., Hawaii, Florida, Mexico Southwest, Belize, Costa Rica, C. American Pacific Is., El Salvador, Guatemala, Bahamas, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker9.176, 76.633 · in the densest population, 192 records (28% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 681 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 489 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 876 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 11 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 of the 681 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Terminalia catappaTerminalia catappaTerminalia catappaTerminalia catappaTerminalia catappaTerminalia catappaTerminalia catappaTerminalia catappa

Photographs: (c) Darren Obbard, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) j_osborn, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Licheng Shih, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Ingvild Riska, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

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

The Ideal Vegetable Oil-based Biodiesel Composition: A Review of Social, Economical and Technical Implications
S. Pinzi, Isabel López García, F.J. López-Giménez, M. D. Luque de Castro (2009) · Energy & Fuels
Antidiabetic activity of Terminalia catappa Linn fruits
A.N. Nagappa, Prasad Arvind Thakurdesai, N. Venkat Rao, Jiwan Singh (2003) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Evaluation of the Antioxidant Activity of Environmental Plants: Activity of the Leaf Extracts from Seashore Plants
Toshiya Masuda, Sigetomo Yonemori, Yasuo Oyama, Yoshio Takeda (1999) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Tree Branch Angle: Maximizing Effective Leaf Area
Hisao Honda, Jack B. Fisher (1978) · Science
Terminalia catappa shell as low-cost biosorbent for the removal of methylene blue from aqueous solutions
Linda Hevira, Zilfa Zilfa, Rahmayeni Rahmayeni, Joshua O. Ighalo (2021) · Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
Host Plants and Host Plant Preference Studies for Bactrocera invadens (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Kenya, a New Invasive Fruit Fly Species in Africa
Ivan Rwomushana, Sunday Ekesi, I. Gordon, C. K. P. O. Ogol (2008) · Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Bactrocera invadens(Diptera: Tephritidae), a New Invasive Fruit Fly Pest for the Afrotropical Region: Host Plant Range and Distribution in West and Central Africa
Georg Goergen, Jean‐François Vayssières, Désiré Gnanvossou, Maurice Tindo (2011) · Environmental Entomology

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 Terminalia 3 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 122 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.