Species
+

Alstonia scholaris (L.) R.Br.

Blackboard Tree, Chatim, Common Alstonia, Dita

Climate known 59 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

Alstonia scholaris, commonly called blackboard tree, scholar tree, milkwood or devil's tree in English, is an evergreen tree in the oleander and frangipani family Apocynaceae. Its natural range is from Pakistan to China, and south to northern Australia. It is a toxic plant, but is used traditionally for myriad diseases and complaints. It is called 'Saptaparna' in India and is the sacred tree of the 2nd Jain tirthankar Ajitnatha. More on Wikipedia ›

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

About the genus · Alstonia

Alstonia is a widespread genus of evergreen trees and shrubs, of the family Apocynaceae. It was named by Robert Brown in 1811, after Charles Alston (1685–1760), professor of botany at Edinburgh from 1716 to 1760.

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

Family
Apocynaceae
Described by
(L.) R.Br.
Native to
China South-Central, China Southeast, Assam +29
Wild records
832 in range· 679 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Apr, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1696mm/yr
11 wet months · peak Jul 301 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–40DLI
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 summer growing season, May to September at the habitat (not shifted). Habitat rain 1696 mm a year, wettest July at 301 mm, driest January at 18 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 16.3 °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 Aeschynomene laevis Noronha; Alstonia kurzii Hook.fil.; Alstonia scholaris subsp. avae A.DC.; Alstonia scholaris subsp. blumii A.DC.; Alstonia scholaris subsp. velutina Monach. and 10 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September at the habitat (not shifted).

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 (1199 mm of 1696 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.5 °C against a yearly mean of 25.9 °C). 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 1696 mm a year, wettest July at 301 mm, driest January at 18 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1696 mm a year at the habitat, 1199 mm of it May to September. Wettest month July at 301 mm, driest January at 18 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 877 mm to 3586 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: 27 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 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 46).

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 16.3 °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 16.3 °C, the absolute minimum 12.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 19.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells 10.4 °C to 24.4 °C), warmest day 30.8 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 16.3 °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 67% 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 31 °C in Apr; mean night from 20 °C in Jan to 25 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1696 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 518 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 12.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.0 °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°33.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)12.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 27–40RH 60–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 518 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 / 20–3129 / 21–3230 / 24–3531 / 25–3730 / 24–3929 / 22–3628 / 22–3228 / 23–3129 / 24–3128 / 26–3228 / 24–3028 / 21–30
Night °C20 / 10–2421 / 13–2522 / 16–2524 / 19–2625 / 19–2724 / 18–2724 / 17–2624 / 18–2623 / 19–2522 / 18–2521 / 15–2420 / 12–24
Rain mm18 / 3–38029 / 2–38355 / 4–365112 / 6–283178 / 25–300231 / 59–702301 / 56–768274 / 51–551215 / 53–366140 / 34–365108 / 12–26035 / 5–273
DLI34 / 23–3836 / 26–4040 / 30–4338 / 29–4634 / 27–4630 / 24–3727 / 24–3430 / 24–3432 / 28–3832 / 28–4231 / 24–4231 / 22–40
RH %60 / 51–6960 / 48–6961 / 46–6963 / 45–6965 / 46–6966 / 55–7167 / 60–7167 / 61–7166 / 60–6964 / 54–6963 / 51–6860 / 51–68

Each figure is the median across the 518 grid cells holding the 816 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 2158:6521 (-17.925, 146.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 12.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 16.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.0 °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 518 distinct grid cells holding the 816 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2158:6521 (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 -18.00_146.250, lapse-corrected -46 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 21 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.
NativeChina South-Central, China Southeast, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Laccadive Is., Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia· introduced: Hainan, Caroline Is., Florida, Trinidad-Tobago
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker9.134, 76.628 · in the densest population, 242 records (29% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 832 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 679 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 8 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 16 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 832 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Alstonia scholarisAlstonia scholarisAlstonia scholarisAlstonia scholarisAlstonia scholarisAlstonia scholarisAlstonia scholarisAlstonia scholaris

Photographs: (c) Cheongweei Gan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Ong Jyh Seng, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Srinivasan Kasinathan, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Sayee Girdhari, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Steve Fitzgerald, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).

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

A review on green synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their applications
Muhammad Rafique, Muhammad Rafique, Iqra Sadaf, M. Shahid Rafique (2016) · Artificial Cells Nanomedicine and Biotechnology
Plant-Mediated Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles: Their Characteristic Properties and Therapeutic Applications
Ill‐Min Chung, Inmyoung Park, Seung‐Hyun Kim, Muthu Thiruvengadam (2016) · Nanoscale Research Letters
Biogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their antioxidant and antibacterial activity
S. Bhakya, S. Muthukrishnan, Monikandon Sukumaran, M. Muthukumar (2015) · Applied Nanoscience
Green synthesis and characterization of zinc oxide nanoparticles using Cayratia pedata leaf extract
Ashwini Jayachandran, Aswathy T.R., Achuthsankar S. Nair (2021) · Biochemistry and Biophysics Reports
Indigenous Use and Ethnopharmacology of Medicinal Plants in Far-West Nepal
Ripu M. Kunwar, Yadav Uprety, C. Burlakoti, Chotte L. Chowdhary (2009) · Ethnobotany Research and Applications
Natural product-derived phytochemicals as potential agents against coronaviruses: A review
Janice S. Mani, Joel B. Johnson, Jason C. Steel, Daniel Broszczak (2020) · Virus Research
Biogenesis of metal nanoparticles and their pharmacological applications: present status and application prospects
Pramila Khandel, Ravi Kumar Yadaw, Deepak Kumar Soni, Leeladhar Kanwar (2018) · Journal of nanostructure in chemistry
Ethnomedicinal botany of the Apatani in the Eastern Himalayan region of India
Chandra Prakash Kala (2005) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
α-Glucosidase inhibitors isolated from medicinal plants
Zhenhua Yin, Wei Zhang, Fajin Feng, Yong Zhang (2014) · Food Science and Human Wellness
Anticancer Plants: A Review of the Active Phytochemicals, Applications in Animal Models, and Regulatory Aspects
Tariq Khan, Muhammad Ali, Ajmal Khan, Parveen Nisar (2019) · Biomolecules
Research Progress on Antibacterial Activities and Mechanisms of Natural Alkaloids: A Review
Yumei Yan, Xing Li, Chunhong Zhang, Lijuan Lv (2021) · Antibiotics

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 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)
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 56 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.