Species
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Afrocarpus falcatus (Thunb.) C.N.Page

Bastard Yellowwood, Conifer, Outeniqua Yellowwood, bastard yellowwood

Climate known 86 photographs
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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

Afrocarpus falcatus is a species of coniferous tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is native to the montane forests of southern Africa, where it is distributed in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, and Eswatini. Common names include common yellowwood, bastard yellowwood, outeniqua yellowwood, African pine tree, weeping yew, Afrikaans: outeniekwageelhout, kalander, Sotho: mogôbagôba, Xhosa: umkhoba and Zulu: umsonti. It is widespread, in some areas abundant, and not considered threatened, but it is a protected tree in South Africa. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Afrocarpus falcatus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Afrocarpus

Afrocarpus is a genus of conifers in the family Podocarpaceae, native to Africa. Five species are recognized. Afrocarpus was designated a genus in 1989, when several species formerly classified in Podocarpus and Nageia were reclassified.

Text from Wikipedia, “Afrocarpus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Podocarpaceae
Described by
(Thunb.) C.N.Page
Native to
Malawi, Mozambique, Cape Provinces +3
Wild records
1375 in range· 515 open

At a glance

Warmest month
25°C
Feb, mean day; nights 17 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
735mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Nov 90 mm (CHELSA)
Light
18–44DLI
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 summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (October to April at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 735 mm a year, wettest November at 90 mm, driest June at 32 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 44 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 6.1 °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 Afrocarpus falcatus subsp. gaussenii (Woltz) Silba; Afrocarpus gaussenii (Woltz) C.N.Page; Afrocarpus gaussenii (Woltz) Gaussen, 1974; Afrocarpus gracillima (Stapj) Gaussen, 1974; Decussocarpus falcatus (Thunb.) DeLaub. and 14 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (October to April at the habitat, southern).

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

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (537 mm of 735 mm) falls in October to April, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.0 °C against a yearly mean of 16.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to October.

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 735 mm a year, wettest November at 90 mm, driest June at 32 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

735 mm a year at the habitat, 537 mm of it October to April. Wettest month November at 90 mm, driest June at 32 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 537 mm to 1178 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern 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: 18 to 44 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 44 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 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

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 6.1 °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 6.1 °C, the absolute minimum 3.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.3 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 8.3 °C in July (across the envelope cells 3.1 °C to 13.2 °C), warmest day 25.1 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 6.1 °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: 55 to 63% 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 18 °C in Jul to 25 °C in Feb; mean night from 8 °C in Jul to 17 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 735 mm of rain a year, most in Nov. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 498 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 3.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.3 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°33.3° 99th-percentile day (undated)3.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 18–44RH 55–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 498 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 °C25 / 22–2825 / 23–2824 / 22–2722 / 20–2520 / 18–2318 / 16–2218 / 15–2119 / 16–2221 / 17–2421 / 19–2523 / 20–2624 / 21–27
Night °C17 / 14–2017 / 14–2116 / 13–2014 / 10–1811 / 7–169 / 4–148 / 3–139 / 5–1411 / 7–1512 / 9–1614 / 11–1816 / 13–19
Rain mm77 / 36–17567 / 31–15779 / 45–12461 / 40–8836 / 17–11232 / 13–14433 / 10–15649 / 15–11748 / 25–9279 / 49–11090 / 47–13884 / 41–160
DLI43 / 37–5239 / 35–4634 / 31–3726 / 25–3121 / 19–2718 / 16–2419 / 17–2624 / 22–3031 / 29–3537 / 32–4141 / 35–4844 / 38–52
RH %63 / 58–6563 / 58–6663 / 58–6561 / 57–6357 / 53–6155 / 51–6055 / 50–5957 / 52–6160 / 54–6261 / 57–6362 / 57–6462 / 58–65

Each figure is the median across the 498 grid cells holding the 1365 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 2478:4059 (-33.925, 22.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 3.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 6.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.3 °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 498 distinct grid cells holding the 1365 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2478:4059 (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 -34.00_23.125, lapse-corrected -6 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 343 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.
NativeMalawi, Mozambique, Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces· introduced: St.Helena, Madagascar, New South Wales
Kew's description“tree” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-34.002, 18.451 · in the densest population, 827 records (60% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1375 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 515 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2 km away. 107 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 10 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 2° block of the 1375 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Afrocarpus falcatusAfrocarpus falcatusAfrocarpus falcatusAfrocarpus falcatusAfrocarpus falcatusAfrocarpus falcatusAfrocarpus falcatusAfrocarpus falcatus

Photographs: (c) Jeremy Gilmore, some rights reserved (CC BY) (8).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons 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 Afrocarpus falcatus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Fungal Planet description sheets: 214–280
P.W. Crous, Roger G. Shivas, William Quaedvlieg, Michelle van der Bank (2014) · Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi
Ethnomedicinal plant knowledge and practice of the Oromo ethnic group in southwestern Ethiopia
Haile Yineger, Delenasaw Yewhalaw, Demel Teketay (2008) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Acocks’ Valley Bushveld 50 years on: new perspectives on the delimitation, characterisation and origin of subtropical thicket vegetation
Jan Vlok, Douglas Euston‐Brown, Richard M. Cowling (2003) · South African Journal of Botany
Conservation of the Ethiopian church forests: Threats, opportunities and implications for their management
Raf Aerts, Koen Van Overtveld, Eva November, Alemayehu Wassie (2016) · The Science of The Total Environment
Evaluating species in Botryosphaeriales
Weirong Zhang, J.Z. Groenewald, L. Lombard, R.K. Schumacher (2021) · Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi
Climate seasonality limits leaf carbon assimilation and wood productivity in tropical forests
Fabien Wagner, Bruno Hérault, Damien Bonal, Clément Stahl (2016) · Biogeosciences
Semi-forest coffee cultivation and the conservation of Ethiopian Afromontane rainforest fragments
Raf Aerts, Kitessa Hundera, Gezahegn Berecha, Pieter Gijbels (2011) · Forest Ecology and Management
Phylogenetic Analysis of Araucariaceae: Integrating Molecules, Morphology, and Fossils
Ignacio H. Escapa, Santiago A. Catalano (2013) · International Journal of Plant Sciences
Species composition and diversity of small Afromontane forest fragments in northern Ethiopia
Raf Aerts, Koen Van Overtveld, Mitiku Haile, Martin Hermy (2006) · Plant Ecology
Soil erosion risk assessment in the Chaleleka wetland watershed, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia
Kebede Wolka, Habitamu Tadesse, Efrem Garedew, Fantaw Yimer (2015) · ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS RESEARCH

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.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (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 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried 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 2026-09-20; 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 43 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.