Calophyllum inophyllum L.
Alexandrian Laurel, Alexandrian-laurel, Beach Calophyllum, Beautyleaf
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
Calophyllum inophyllum is a large evergreen plant, commonly called tamanu, oil-nut, mastwood, beach calophyllum or beautyleaf. It is native to the Old World Tropics, from Africa through Asia to Australia and Polynesia. Due to its importance as a source of timber for the traditional shipbuilding of large outrigger ships, it has been spread in prehistoric times by the migrations of the Austronesian peoples to the islands of Oceania and Madagascar, along with other members of the genus Calophyllum. It has since been naturalized in regions of the East African coast. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Calophyllum inophyllum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Calophyllum
Calophyllum is a genus of tropical flowering plants in the family Calophyllaceae. They are mainly distributed in Asia, with some species in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, and the Pacific Islands.
Text from Wikipedia, “Calophyllum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Balsamaria bintagor Roxb.; Balsamaria inophyllum (L.) Lour.; Calophyllum apetalum Blanco; Calophyllum bingator Roxb.; Calophyllum bintagor Roxb. and 8 more.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (October to May at the habitat (not shifted)).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (1572 mm of 2181 mm) takes 8 months, October to May. Mean temperature moves 1.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve 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 2181 mm a year, wettest January at 244 mm, driest August at 144 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
2181 mm a year at the habitat, 1572 mm of it October to May. Wettest month January at 244 mm, driest August at 144 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1198 mm to 3656 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: 31 to 36 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 36 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 19.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 19.6 °C, the absolute minimum 17.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 23.8 °C in November (across the envelope cells 21.0 °C to 25.8 °C), warmest day 27.7 °C in March (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.6 °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.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 64 to 65% 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
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 27 / 22–29 | 28 / 23–29 | 28 / 24–30 | 28 / 24–31 | 27 / 24–30 | 27 / 23–30 | 27 / 22–30 | 27 / 22–30 | 27 / 23–30 | 27 / 24–29 | 27 / 24–29 | 27 / 23–29 |
| Night °C | 25 / 18–26 | 25 / 19–26 | 25 / 20–26 | 25 / 21–26 | 25 / 21–26 | 25 / 19–27 | 24 / 18–27 | 24 / 18–26 | 24 / 20–26 | 24 / 21–26 | 24 / 21–26 | 24 / 19–26 |
| Rain mm | 244 / 23–460 | 224 / 25–473 | 213 / 34–419 | 185 / 58–345 | 180 / 54–319 | 155 / 44–371 | 151 / 38–390 | 144 / 34–383 | 159 / 33–357 | 164 / 47–326 | 166 / 62–323 | 196 / 38–358 |
| DLI | 35 / 24–41 | 36 / 27–40 | 36 / 32–41 | 34 / 30–42 | 33 / 25–42 | 31 / 23–38 | 31 / 24–39 | 33 / 27–38 | 35 / 31–40 | 36 / 29–43 | 35 / 26–44 | 33 / 22–43 |
| RH % | 65 / 59–69 | 65 / 60–69 | 64 / 60–69 | 65 / 61–69 | 64 / 60–68 | 64 / 59–69 | 64 / 59–69 | 64 / 59–69 | 64 / 60–68 | 64 / 60–68 | 64 / 60–68 | 64 / 59–69 |
Each figure is the median across the 728 grid cells holding the 1150 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 1373:437 (21.325, -158.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 17.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.6 °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 728 distinct grid cells holding the 1150 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1373:437 (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 21.50_-158.125, lapse-corrected -60 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 18 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Ramesh Shenai, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Hamas Fathani, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) Thomas Mesaglio, 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 Calophyllum inophyllum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
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.
Premna serratifolia bastard guelder
Cocos nucifera Coconut
Barringtonia asiatica Asian barringtonia
Averrhoa bilimbi Belimbing
Heritiera littoralis beach tulip-oak
Barringtonia racemosa Brackishwater MangroveHistory & 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 answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata 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: skippedinat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedinat.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 answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 125 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








