Species
+

Ochna serrulata (Hochst.) Walp.

Bird's Eye Bush, Carnival Ochna, Carnival Redwood, Carnivalbush

Climate known 54 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

Ochna serrulata is an ornamental garden plant in the family Ochnaceae which is indigenous to South Africa. It is planted in southern African gardens and is an invasive species in Australia and New Zealand.

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

About the genus · Ochna

Ochna is a genus comprising 79 species of evergreen trees, shrubs and shrublets belonging to the flowering plant family Ochnaceae. These species are native to tropical woodlands of Africa, Madagascar, the Mascarenes and Asia. Species of this genus are usually called ochnas, bird's-eye bushes or Mickey-mouse plants, a name derived from the shape of the drupelet fruit. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Ochna”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Ochnaceae
Described by
(Hochst.) Walp.
Native to
Cape Provinces, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal +3
Wild records
127 in range· 55 open

At a glance

Warmest month
25°C
Feb, mean day; nights 18 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
852mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jan 116 mm (CHELSA)
Light
20–40DLI
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, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 852 mm a year, wettest January at 116 mm, driest June at 29 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 5.4 °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 Diporidium serrulatum Hochst.; Ochna atropurpurea Harv.; Ochna multiflora B.S.Williams; Ochna multiflora B.S.Williams ex Rob.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March 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 (602 mm of 852 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.5 °C against a yearly mean of 17.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

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 852 mm a year, wettest January at 116 mm, driest June at 29 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

852 mm a year at the habitat, 602 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 116 mm, driest June at 29 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 579 mm to 1184 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: 20 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 20 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 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

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 5.4 °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 5.4 °C, the absolute minimum 2.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 7.8 °C in July (across the envelope cells 3.6 °C to 12.4 °C), warmest day 25.3 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 5.4 °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: 54 to 64% 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 19 °C in Jul to 25 °C in Feb; mean night from 8 °C in Jul to 18 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 852 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 91 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 2.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.9 °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°38.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)2.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 20–40RH 54–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 91 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 / 23–2725 / 23–2724 / 22–2623 / 20–2521 / 18–2319 / 15–2119 / 15–2120 / 16–2221 / 17–2422 / 19–2423 / 20–2524 / 22–26
Night °C17 / 14–2018 / 15–2016 / 13–1914 / 11–1711 / 7–158 / 4–138 / 4–129 / 5–1311 / 8–1413 / 10–1614 / 11–1716 / 13–19
Rain mm116 / 35–162100 / 31–14386 / 40–12257 / 40–8834 / 16–10529 / 13–13432 / 11–14844 / 19–11754 / 28–9687 / 51–124106 / 46–139107 / 39–150
DLI39 / 35–5137 / 34–4533 / 30–3726 / 25–2922 / 19–2620 / 16–2421 / 17–2525 / 22–2930 / 29–3435 / 31–4038 / 34–4840 / 35–51
RH %64 / 59–6764 / 59–6764 / 59–6661 / 57–6457 / 54–6154 / 52–6054 / 51–6057 / 52–6160 / 54–6262 / 57–6462 / 58–6563 / 59–66

Each figure is the median across the 91 grid cells holding the 127 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 2329:4228 (-26.475, 31.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 2.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 5.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.9 °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 91 distinct grid cells holding the 127 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2329:4228 (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 -26.50_31.250, lapse-corrected -148 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 685 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.
NativeCape Provinces, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Swaziland, Northern Provinces· introduced: Cambodia, Norfolk Is., Florida
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-29.625, 30.375 · in the densest population, 85 records (67% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 127 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 55 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 113 km away. 827 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 127 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Ochna serrulataOchna serrulataOchna serrulataOchna serrulataOchna serrulataOchna serrulataOchna serrulataOchna serrulata

Photographs: (c) Dave Richardson, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Niko Ioannidis, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Thomas Mesaglio, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Greg Tasney, 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 Ochna serrulata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Apomissia in “Ochna Serrulata„ Walp
Alberto Chiarugi, Eleonora Francini (1930) · Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology
In vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of five Ochna species (Ochnaceae) with excellent antibacterial activity
Tshepiso J. Makhafola, Lyndy J. McGaw, J.N. Eloff (2013) · South African Journal of Botany
Reproductive ecology of invasive Ochna serrulata (Ochnaceae) in south-eastern Queensland
Carl R. Gosper, Gabrielle Vivian‐Smith, Kate Hoad (2006) · Australian Journal of Botany
The Chemical Composition of Oils and Cakes of Ochna serrulata (Ochnaceae) and Other Underutilized Traditional Oil Trees from Western Zambia
Adéla Fraňková, Anna Maňourová, Zora Kotíková, Kateřina Vejvodová (2021) · Molecules
Antimalarial Biflavonoids from the Roots of Ochna serrulata (Hochst.) Walp
Monica M. Ndoile, Fanie R. van Heerden (2018) · International Research Journal of Pure and Applied Chemistry
New Insights Into The Evolution of Chloroplast Genomes in Ochna Species (Ochnaceae, Malpighiales)
Nguyễn Nhật Nam, Nguyen Hoang Danh, Vũ Minh Thiết, Hoang Dang Khoa (2023) · Evolutionary Bioinformatics
Antioxidant, allelopathic and toxic activity of Ochna serrulata
Guilherme Colla, Inês Maria Costa Brighente, Gustavo Silva Queiroz, Mariana Altenhofen da Silva (2011) · El Servicio de Difusión de la Creación Intelectual (National University of La Plata)
Cytotoxic and antimalarial biflavonoids isolated from the aerial parts of Ochna serrulata (Hochst.) Walp
Monica M. Ndoile, Fanie R. van Heerden (2018) · Tanzania Journal of Science
Perilaku Harian Pachliopta aristolochiae Betina di Museum Serangga dan Taman Kupu Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (MSTK TMII)
Agung Prasetyo, ALAM PUTRA PERSADA, ISMAYATI AFIFAH, Vella Nurazizah Djalil (2017) · Jurnal Sumberdaya Hayati
EFFECT OF SOME FERTILIZATION TREATMENTS ON GROWTH AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF OCHNA SERRULATA (HOCHST.) WALP. SHRUBS
Amal El-Fouly (2015) · Scientific Journal of Flowers and Ornamental Plants /Scientific Journal of Flowers and Ornamental Plants

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 Ochna 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (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 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; 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.