Species
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Phyllanthus acidus (L.) Skeels

Indian-gooseberry, Malay-gooseberry, Otaheite gooseberry, Otaheite gooseberry

Climate known 51 photographs Bulb, tuber or caudex
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

Phyllanthus acidus, commonly known as star gooseberry, Otaheite gooseberry, or Malay gooseberry, is a tree in the family Phyllanthaceae that bears small edible berries.

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

About the genus · Phyllanthus

Phyllanthus is the largest genus in the plant family Phyllanthaceae. Estimates of the number of species in this genus vary widely, from 750 to 1200. Phyllanthus has a remarkable diversity of growth forms including annual and perennial herbs, shrubs, climbers, floating aquatics, and pachycaulous succulents. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Family
Phyllanthaceae
Described by
(L.) Skeels
Native to
Brazil North
Wild records
12 in range· 9 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Sep, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2478mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Apr 340 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–38DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by the genus Phyllanthus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, January to June at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.6 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 2478 mm a year, wettest April at 340 mm, driest September at 52 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 38 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 19.8 °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 Averrhoa acida L.; Averrhoa frondosa Salisb.; Cicca acida (L.) Merr.; Cicca acidissima Blanco; Cicca acidua (L.) Merr. and 14 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by the genus Phyllanthus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, January to June at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.6 °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 (1751 mm of 2478 mm) falls in January to June. The temperature curve is flat, 1.6 °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, southern 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 2478 mm a year, wettest April at 340 mm, driest September at 52 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2478 mm a year at the habitat, 1751 mm of it January to June. Wettest month April at 340 mm, driest September at 52 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1603 mm to 2941 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: 28 to 38 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 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 25, 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 19.8 °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 19.8 °C, the absolute minimum 17.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 21.6 °C in July (across the envelope cells 20.4 °C to 24.3 °C), warmest day 31.0 °C in September (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.8 °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: 62 to 69% 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 Jan to 31 °C in Sep; mean night from 22 °C in Jul to 23 °C in Oct. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 2478 mm of rain a year, most in Apr. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 10 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 17.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.15°20°25°30°35°40°36.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)17.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 28–38RH 62–69 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 10 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 / 28–3129 / 28–3029 / 28–3029 / 28–3029 / 28–3029 / 28–3029 / 28–3130 / 29–3231 / 29–3331 / 30–3330 / 29–3229 / 28–30
Night °C22 / 21–2422 / 21–2422 / 22–2423 / 22–2422 / 21–2422 / 20–2422 / 20–2422 / 21–2522 / 22–2523 / 22–2523 / 22–2522 / 22–25
Rain mm301 / 156–370274 / 120–434309 / 137–547340 / 172–468322 / 47–391205 / 4–362164 / 2–29186 / 8–20752 / 18–21898 / 30–260135 / 32–253192 / 96–349
DLI30 / 27–3429 / 29–3529 / 28–3328 / 27–3129 / 25–3131 / 25–3233 / 27–3436 / 32–3838 / 35–4038 / 34–4134 / 31–3932 / 28–34
RH %68 / 63–7169 / 62–7169 / 62–7269 / 63–7268 / 62–7067 / 54–7066 / 50–6864 / 49–6862 / 54–6762 / 57–6764 / 61–7065 / 61–71

Each figure is the median across the 10 grid cells holding the 10 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 1724:2547 (3.775, -52.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 17.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.8 °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 10 distinct grid cells holding the 10 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1724:2547 (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 4.00_-52.500, lapse-corrected -38 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 74 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.
NativeBrazil North· introduced: Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, Zaïre, Tanzania, Uganda, Comoros, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Lesser Sunda Is., Philippines, Christmas I., Marianas, Hawaii, Florida, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Nicaragua, Bahamas, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is.
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-0.724, -47.863 · in the densest population, 5 records (42% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 12 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 9 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 320 km away. 832 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 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 12 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Phyllanthus acidusPhyllanthus acidusPhyllanthus acidusPhyllanthus acidusPhyllanthus acidusPhyllanthus acidusPhyllanthus acidusPhyllanthus acidus

Photographs: (c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Nasser Halaweh, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Andre Hosper, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Carlos Domínguez-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Ong Jyh Seng, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Cheongweei Gan, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Highly fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots derived from Phyllanthus acidus utilized as a fluorescent probe for label-free selective detection of Fe3+ ions, live cell imaging and fluorescent ink
Raji Atchudan, Thomas Nesakumar Jebakumar Immanuel Edison, Kanikkai Raja Aseer, Suguna Perumal (2017) · Biosensors and Bioelectronics
Facile green fabrication of iron-doped cubic ZrO2 nanoparticles by Phyllanthus acidus: Structural, photocatalytic and photoluminescent properties
K. Gurushantha, K.S. Anantharaju, H. Nagabhushana, S.C. Sharma (2014) · Journal of Molecular Catalysis A Chemical
Hypotensive activity of an n-butanol extract and their purified compounds from leaves of Phyllanthus acidus (L.) Skeels in rats
Yuttapong Leeya, Michael J. Mulvany, Emerson Ferreira Queiroz, Andrew Marston (2010) · European Journal of Pharmacology
Total Phenolic Content, Antioxidative, Anti-amylase, Anti-glucosidase, and Antihistamine Release Activities of Bangladeshi Fruits
Sheikh Julfikar Hossain, Iyo TSUJIYAMA, Mikako Takasugi, Md. Ashabul ISLAM (2008) · Food Science and Technology Research
Antiinflammatory, antinociceptive and antioxidant activities of Phyllanthus acidus L. extracts
Raja Chakraborty, De Biplab, N. Devanna, Saikat Sen (2012) · Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine
In vitro and in vivo anti-inflammatory activity of Phyllanthus acidus methanolic extract
Muhammad Jahangir Hossen, Sung Ho Jeon, Seung Cheol Kim, Ji Hye Kim (2015) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Phyllanthus acidus (L.) Skeels: A review of its traditional uses, phytochemistry, and pharmacological properties
Siow-Ping Tan, Eric Nyak-Yong Tan, Qian-Yu Lim, Mohd Azlan Nafiah (2020) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
An Extract from the Medicinal Plant Phyllanthus acidus and Its Isolated Compounds Induce Airway Chloride Secretion: A Potential Treatment for Cystic Fibrosis
Marisa Sousa, Jiraporn Ousingsawat, Roswitha Seitz, Supaporn Puntheeranurak (2006) · Molecular Pharmacology

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 Phyllanthus 2 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 92 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.