Species
+

Phyllanthus emblica L.

Emblic, Indian-gooseberry, amla, aonla

Climate known 73 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 emblica, commonly known as emblic, Indian gooseberry, amalaki, amloki, or amla, is a deciduous tree of the family Phyllanthaceae. Its native range is tropical and southern Asia.

Text from Wikipedia, “Phyllanthus emblica”, 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.
Native to
China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast +18
Wild records
486 in range· 374 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Apr, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1801mm/yr
10 wet months · peak Jul 359 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–41DLI
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 summer growing season, May to September at the habitat (not shifted). Habitat rain 1801 mm a year, wettest July at 359 mm, driest January at 17 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 11.1 °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 Cicca emblica (L.) Kurz; Cicca macrocarpa Kurz; Diasperus emblica (L.) Kuntze; Diasperus pomifer (Hook.f.) Kuntze; Dichelactina nodicaulis Hance and 11 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 summer growing season, May to September at the habitat (not shifted).

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 (1391 mm of 1801 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.3 °C against a yearly mean of 25.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern 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 1801 mm a year, wettest July at 359 mm, driest January at 17 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1801 mm a year at the habitat, 1391 mm of it May to September. Wettest month July at 359 mm, driest January at 17 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 886 mm to 3343 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: 28 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 41 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 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

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 11.1 °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 11.1 °C, the absolute minimum 7.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 15.4 °C in January (across the envelope cells 6.2 °C to 23.2 °C), warmest day 31.3 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 11.1 °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: 58 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 27 °C in Dec to 31 °C in Apr; mean night from 15 °C in Jan to 24 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1801 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 365 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 7.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.0 °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°39.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)7.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter02004006008001000mm rainDLI 28–41RH 58–69 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 365 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 / 16–3229 / 18–3331 / 21–3531 / 24–3730 / 26–3928 / 26–3628 / 25–3228 / 25–3128 / 25–3128 / 23–3128 / 20–3027 / 18–31
Night °C15 / 6–2317 / 8–2420 / 11–2523 / 15–2624 / 17–2624 / 19–2724 / 19–2623 / 19–2623 / 18–2522 / 15–2419 / 11–2416 / 7–23
Rain mm17 / 4–3423 / 4–5833 / 9–8588 / 7–180196 / 17–289304 / 79–835359 / 147–954299 / 129–583233 / 113–333160 / 36–36164 / 10–22725 / 6–58
DLI32 / 21–3738 / 21–4141 / 25–4339 / 29–4635 / 30–4630 / 25–3728 / 23–3429 / 23–3431 / 27–3631 / 25–3430 / 22–3230 / 21–34
RH %58 / 50–6258 / 47–6559 / 43–6562 / 41–6764 / 43–6869 / 53–7369 / 62–7269 / 63–7267 / 60–7065 / 53–6962 / 50–6759 / 50–63

Each figure is the median across the 365 grid cells holding the 481 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 1541:5149 (12.925, 77.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 7.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 11.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.0 °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 365 distinct grid cells holding the 481 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1541:5149 (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 13.00_77.500, lapse-corrected -39 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 803 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, Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Sumatera· introduced: Mauritius, Andaman Is., Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is.
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker9.258, 76.777 · in the densest population, 161 records (33% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 486 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 374 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 3 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 5 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 of the 486 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Phyllanthus emblicaPhyllanthus emblicaPhyllanthus emblicaPhyllanthus emblicaPhyllanthus emblicaPhyllanthus emblicaPhyllanthus emblicaPhyllanthus emblica

Photographs: (c) rajesh rocky, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Sagnik Dutta Roy, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Rama Narayanan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Afsar Nayakkan, 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 emblica, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Phenolic contents and antioxidant activity of some food and medicinal plants
Monika Bajpai, Anurag Pande, S. K. Tewari, Dhan Prakash (2005) · International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition
The Role of Polyphenol (Flavonoids) Compounds in the Treatment of Cancer Cells
Abu Hazafa, Khalil-ur- Rehman, Nazish Jahan, Zara Jabeen (2019) · Nutrition and Cancer
Therapeutic potential of Phyllanthus emblica (amla): the ayurvedic wonder
S. Mirunalini,, M. Krishnaveni, (2010) · Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology
Amla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn), a wonder berry in the treatment and prevention of cancer
Manjeshwar Shrinath Baliga, Jason D’Souza (2011) · European Journal of Cancer Prevention
Identification of phenolics in the fruit of emblica (Phyllanthus emblica L.) and their antioxidant activities
Xiaoli Liu, Chun Cui, Mouming Zhao, Jinshui Wang (2008) · Food Chemistry
Antimicrobial Activity Of Some Indian Medicinal Plants
Rajesh Dabur, Ankur Gupta, T.K. Mandal, Devendra Pratap Singh (2008) · African Journal of Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicines
Antioxidant activity of methanolic extract of emblica fruit (Phyllanthus emblica L.) from six regions in China
Xiaoli Liu, Mouming Zhao, Jinshui Wang, Bao Yang (2007) · Journal of Food Composition and Analysis
Traditional uses, bioactive composition, pharmacology, and toxicology of Phyllanthus emblica fruits: A comprehensive review
Rakshandha Saini, Nitin Sharma, Oluwole Solomon Oladeji, Anuradha Sourirajan (2021) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using phyllanthus emblica fruit extract for antimicrobial application
R. Renuka, K. Renuka Devi, M. Sivakami, T. Thilagavathi (2020) · Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology
Anti-diabetic activity of quercetin extracted from Phyllanthus emblica L. fruit: In silico and in vivo approaches
S. Prabhu, Sekar Vijayakumar, Swaminathan Kothandaraman, Manogar Palani (2017) · Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis

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