Species
+

Cerbera manghas L.

Baraibai, Chemeridech, Kameduangel, Leva

Climate known 55 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

Cerbera manghas, commonly known as the sea mango, wawai, pink-eyed cerbera, tangena or bintaro is a small evergreen coastal tree growing up to 12 metres (39 ft) tall. It is native to coastal areas in Africa, Asia, Australasia, and the Pacific islands. It is classified as one of the three species in the genus Cerbera that constitute mangroves. Despite its name, it is not closely related to the mango.

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

About the genus · Cerbera

Cerbera is a genus of evergreen trees or shrubs, native to tropical Asia, Australia, Madagascar, and various islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

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

Family
Apocynaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Tanzania, Comoros, Mauritius +45
Wild records
1294 in range· 744 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Feb, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2264mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jan 248 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–36DLI
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: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (December to July at the habitat (not shifted)). Habitat rain 2264 mm a year, wettest January at 248 mm, driest October at 133 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 36 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 18.2 °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 Cerbera lactaria Buch.-Ham. ex D.Dietrich; Cerbera linnaei Montrouz.; Cerbera manghas var. mugfordii (F.M.Bailey) Domin; Cerbera manghas var. samoensis Hochr.; Cerbera odollam var. mugfordii F.M.Bailey and 10 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (December to July 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 (1658 mm of 2264 mm) takes 8 months, December to July. Mean temperature moves 1.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern 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 2264 mm a year, wettest January at 248 mm, driest October at 133 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2264 mm a year at the habitat, 1658 mm of it December to July. Wettest month January at 248 mm, driest October at 133 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1353 mm to 3803 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 36 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 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 16, 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 18.2 °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 18.2 °C, the absolute minimum 16.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.3 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 22.4 °C in November (across the envelope cells 18.0 °C to 25.4 °C), warmest day 27.6 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 18.2 °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: 63 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 27 °C in Oct to 28 °C in Feb; mean night from 22 °C in Nov to 24 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Oct to Dec, is the three months around the coldest night. 2264 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 755 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 16.4 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.3 °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°32.3° 99th-percentile day (undated)16.4° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 30–36RH 63–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 755 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 °C27 / 18–2928 / 19–3027 / 21–3027 / 23–3027 / 24–3027 / 23–3027 / 22–3027 / 22–3027 / 23–3027 / 24–3027 / 23–3027 / 20–30
Night °C23 / 14–2623 / 15–2623 / 17–2623 / 19–2623 / 19–2624 / 18–2624 / 17–2724 / 17–2724 / 18–2623 / 19–2522 / 18–2523 / 15–26
Rain mm248 / 26–466242 / 44–458219 / 57–415185 / 68–342199 / 48–329180 / 27–396169 / 26–383169 / 20–383161 / 17–391133 / 33–348143 / 49–354216 / 30–362
DLI34 / 16–4134 / 19–3934 / 25–3832 / 28–3931 / 24–3630 / 22–3631 / 22–3933 / 27–3734 / 30–4036 / 27–4336 / 20–4434 / 16–43
RH %65 / 59–7066 / 61–7066 / 62–7066 / 62–7165 / 60–7065 / 59–7065 / 58–7065 / 58–6964 / 59–6963 / 59–6864 / 58–6964 / 57–69

Each figure is the median across the 755 grid cells holding the 1250 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 2051:4588 (-12.575, 49.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 16.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 18.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.3 °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 755 distinct grid cells holding the 1250 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2051:4588 (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 -12.50_49.375, lapse-corrected +19 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 169 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.
NativeTanzania, Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles, Hainan, China Southeast, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Christmas I., Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Northern Territory, Queensland, Fiji, Gilbert Is., Nauru, New Caledonia, Samoa, Santa Cruz Is., Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Marquesas, Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marshall Is.· introduced: Chagos Archipelago
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker24.878, 121.843 · in the densest population, 423 records (33% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1294 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 744 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 8893 km away. 30 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 44 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 4° block of the 1294 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cerbera manghasCerbera manghasCerbera manghasCerbera manghasCerbera manghasCerbera manghasCerbera manghasCerbera manghas

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (8).

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

Evaluation of the Antioxidant Potential of Natural Products
Sang Kook Lee, Zakaria H. Mbwambo, HaSook Chung, Lumonadio Luyengi (1998) · Combinatorial Chemistry & High Throughput Screening
Acute Plant Poisoning and Antitoxin Antibodies
Michael Eddleston, Hans Persson (2003) · Journal of Toxicology Clinical Toxicology
Naturally occurring cardiac glycosides
Dorothy J. Radford, Andrew D. Gillies, John A. Hinds, P.G. Duffy (1986) · The Medical Journal of Australia
Polyketides with α-Glucosidase Inhibitory Activity from a Mangrove Endophytic Fungus, Penicillium sp. HN29-3B1
Yayue Liu, Qin Yang, Guoping Xia, Hongbo Huang (2015) · Journal of Natural Products
Antiviral and cytotoxic activities of some plants used in Malaysian indigenous medicine
Abdul Manaf Ali, Muhammad Mukram Mohamed Mackeen, Saleh El-Sharkawy, Junainah Abdul Hamid (1996) · Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository (Universiti Putra Malaysia)
New Cytotoxic Cardenolide Glycoside from the Seeds of Cerbera manghas
Sarot Cheenpracha, Chatchanok Karalai, Yanisa Rat‐a‐pa, Chanita Ponglimanont (2004) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Wild Goffin’s cockatoos flexibly manufacture and use tool sets
Mark H. O’Hara, Berenika Mioduszewska, Roger Mundry, Yohanna Yohanna (2021) · Current Biology
Activity-guided isolation of constituents of Cerbera manghas with antiproliferative and antiestrogenic activities
Leng Chee Chang, Joell J. Gills, Krishna Bhat, Lumonadio Luyengi (2000) · Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters
Cerbera. III. Cardenolide monoglycosides from the leaves of Cerbera odollam and Cerbera manghas.
Tatsuo Yamauchi, Fumiko Abe, Alfred S.C. Wan (1987) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Optimization of Cerbera manghas Biodiesel Production Using Artificial Neural Networks Integrated with Ant Colony Optimization
A.S. Silitonga, T.M.I. Mahlia, Abd Halim Shamsuddin, Hwai Chyuan Ong (2019) · Energies

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 80 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.