Species
+

Citrus hystrix DC.

Celebes papeda, Ghost-lime, Kaffir lime, Kaffir lime (EN)

Climate known 14 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

Citrus hystrix, called the kaffir lime, Thai lime or makrut lime, is a citrus fruit native to tropical Southeast Asia.

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

About the genus · Citrus

Citrus is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, such as citrons, mandarins, and pomelos. Many important citrus crops have been developed through extensive hybridization, including oranges, lemons, grapefruits, and limes, all of which have many cultivars.

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

Family
Rutaceae
Described by
DC.
Native to
China South-Central, China Southeast, Assam +19
Wild records
247 in range· 159 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Apr, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1990mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 236 mm (CHELSA)
Light
29–38DLI
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 November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.2 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1990 mm a year, wettest September at 236 mm, driest February at 68 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 38 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 15.5 °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 Citrus aurantium subsp. saponacea Saff.; Citrus auraria Michel; Citrus balincolong (Yu.Tanaka) Yu.Tanaka; Citrus boholensis (Wester) Yu.Tanaka; Citrus celebica Koord. and 44 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.2 °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 (1426 mm of 1990 mm) falls in May to November. The temperature curve is flat, 2.2 °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; 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 1990 mm a year, wettest September at 236 mm, driest February at 68 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1990 mm a year at the habitat, 1426 mm of it May to November. Wettest month September at 236 mm, driest February at 68 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1317 mm to 3326 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: 29 to 38 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 38 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 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

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 15.5 °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 15.5 °C, the absolute minimum 9.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 40.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 21.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells 14.4 °C to 25.1 °C), warmest day 30.0 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.5 °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: 64 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 30 °C in Apr; mean night from 21 °C in Jan to 24 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1990 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 211 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 9.4 °C and the 99th-percentile day 40.9 °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°50°40.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)9.4° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 29–38RH 64–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 211 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 / 23–3029 / 24–3330 / 26–3430 / 26–3630 / 26–3430 / 26–3229 / 26–3229 / 26–3129 / 26–3129 / 26–3028 / 24–3028 / 23–29
Night °C21 / 14–2522 / 16–2523 / 18–2524 / 20–2624 / 21–2624 / 21–2624 / 21–2624 / 21–2624 / 20–2523 / 20–2522 / 18–2521 / 15–25
Rain mm81 / 5–35168 / 13–292105 / 29–315139 / 62–304207 / 130–307182 / 102–352186 / 96–369200 / 92–362236 / 118–341217 / 87–367198 / 32–388171 / 7–376
DLI32 / 27–3536 / 30–3838 / 32–4037 / 32–4134 / 30–3732 / 27–3532 / 27–3532 / 27–3632 / 28–3730 / 27–3930 / 25–3929 / 24–35
RH %65 / 54–7064 / 53–6965 / 52–6965 / 54–7066 / 61–7066 / 62–7066 / 62–7066 / 62–7166 / 63–7066 / 62–7067 / 57–7166 / 54–71

Each figure is the median across the 211 grid cells holding the 244 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 1532:5677 (13.375, 103.875). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 9.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 40.9 °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 211 distinct grid cells holding the 244 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1532:5677 (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 13.50_103.750, lapse-corrected -20 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 17 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, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is.· introduced: Sri Lanka, Laos, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Society Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Trinidad-Tobago
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker13.799, 100.513 · in the densest population, 75 records (30% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 247 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 159 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 13 km away. 98 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 3 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 247 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Citrus hystrixCitrus hystrixCitrus hystrixCitrus hystrixCitrus hystrixCitrus hystrixCitrus hystrixCitrus hystrix

Photographs: (c) Sarka Masova, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Ong Jyh Seng, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Nasser Halaweh, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) The Great Walter, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) rjtizard, some rights reserved (CC BY); Khaliff Abdullah, CC BY-SA, via GBIF.

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

Repellency of volatile oils from plants against three mosquito vectors.
Apiwat Tawatsin, S. D. Wratten, R. R. Scott, Usavadee Thavara (2001) · PubMed
Alpha-Tocopherol Content in 62 Edible Tropical Plants
Ling Soon Ching, Suhaila Mohamed (2001) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
In vitro antioxidant, anti-diabetic, cholinesterase and tyrosinase inhibitory potential of fresh juice from Citrus hystrix and C. maxima fruits
Arumugam Abirami, Gunasekaran Nagarani, Perumal Siddhuraju (2014) · Food Science and Human Wellness
Antimicrobial activities of essential oils and crude extracts from tropical Citrus spp. against food-related microorganisms
Tipparat Hongpattarakere, Suphitchaya Chanthachum, Sumonrat Chanthaphon (2008) · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals)
Glyceroglycolipids from Citrus hystrix, a Traditional Herb in Thailand, Potently Inhibit the Tumor-Promoting Activity of 12-O-Tetradecanoylphorbol 13-Acetate in Mouse Skin
Akira Murakami, Yoshimasa Nakamura, Koichi Koshimįzu, Hajime Ohigashi (1995) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Optimisation of extraction conditions for phenolic compounds from limau purut (Citrus hystrix) peels
Sook Wah Chan, C. Y. Lee, C. F. Yap, Wan Aida Wan Mustapha (2009) · International Food Research Journal
Flavonoids in Tropical Citrus Species
Suri Roowi, Alan Crozier (2011) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Green Reduction of Graphene Oxide using Kaffir Lime Peel Extract (Citrus hystrix) and Its Application as Adsorbent for Methylene Blue
Ronald Wijaya, Gracia Andersan, Shella Permatasari Santoso, Wenny Irawaty (2020) · Scientific Reports
Hepatoprotective effect of leaf extracts from Citrus hystrix and C. maxima against paracetamol induced liver injury in rats
Arumugam Abirami, Gunasekaran Nagarani, Perumal Siddhuraju (2015) · Food Science and Human Wellness
Kinetic studies of tyrosinase inhibitory activity of 19 essential oils extracted from endemic and exotic medicinal plants
Zaahira Aumeeruddy-Elalfi, Ameenah Gurib‐Fakim, Mohamad Fawzi Mahomoodally (2015) · South African Journal of Botany
Antioxidative and Free Radical Scavenging Activities of Some Plants Used in Thai Folk Medicine
Nongporn Hutadilok‐Towatana, P. Chaiyamutti, Kanda Panthong, Wilawan Mahabusarakam (2006) · Pharmaceutical Biology

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 Citrus 4 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (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 50 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.