Polyalthia longifolia (Sonn.) Thwaites
ashoka, asoka, cemetery-tree, mast-tree
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
Monoon longifolium, the false ashoka, also commonly known by its synonym Polyalthia longifolia, is an Asian small tree species in the family Annonaceae. It is native to southern India and Sri Lanka, but has been widely introduced elsewhere in tropical Asia. This evergreen tree is known to grow over 20 m. in height and is commonly planted due to its effectiveness in alleviating noise pollution. It exhibits symmetrical pyramidal growth with willowy weeping pendulous branches and long narrow lanceolate leaves with undulate margins.
Text from Wikipedia, “Monoon longifolium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Polyalthia
Polyalthia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Annonaceae. There are approximately 90 species distributed from Africa to Asia and the Pacific.
Text from Wikipedia, “Polyalthia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Guatteria longifolia (Sonn.) Wall.; Monoon longifolium (Sonn.) B.Xue & R.M.K.Saunders; Polyalthia longifolia var. pendula Benthall; Unona altissima Russell; Unona altissima Russell ex Wall. and 3 more.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern).
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 (837 mm of 1091 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.2 °C against a yearly mean of 26.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.
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 1091 mm a year, wettest July at 274 mm, driest January at 9 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1091 mm a year at the habitat, 837 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 274 mm, driest January at 9 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 747 mm to 2864 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: 27 to 43 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 43 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 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).
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 11.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 11.4 °C, the absolute minimum 8.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 15.8 °C in December (across the envelope cells 9.2 °C to 22.9 °C), warmest day 35.2 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 11.4 °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.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 50 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
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 28 / 20–31 | 30 / 24–33 | 33 / 29–36 | 35 / 31–38 | 35 / 30–40 | 33 / 28–38 | 29 / 27–33 | 29 / 26–32 | 29 / 27–33 | 30 / 28–32 | 29 / 26–30 | 28 / 22–30 |
| Night °C | 16 / 8–23 | 18 / 10–23 | 21 / 15–25 | 24 / 20–26 | 26 / 22–28 | 25 / 22–28 | 24 / 22–27 | 24 / 21–26 | 24 / 21–25 | 22 / 19–25 | 19 / 14–24 | 16 / 9–23 |
| Rain mm | 9 / 2–21 | 9 / 1–29 | 17 / 2–51 | 22 / 2–132 | 54 / 13–248 | 143 / 59–573 | 274 / 90–800 | 237 / 111–551 | 183 / 115–333 | 103 / 20–325 | 29 / 7–204 | 11 / 3–49 |
| DLI | 33 / 26–37 | 38 / 31–40 | 42 / 39–44 | 43 / 38–46 | 42 / 33–47 | 32 / 26–41 | 27 / 24–32 | 27 / 23–33 | 31 / 28–35 | 32 / 30–34 | 30 / 27–32 | 30 / 25–33 |
| RH % | 55 / 50–60 | 53 / 46–60 | 50 / 42–61 | 53 / 41–63 | 56 / 43–65 | 62 / 51–70 | 66 / 59–71 | 66 / 61–71 | 65 / 59–69 | 61 / 50–68 | 56 / 49–66 | 55 / 49–62 |
Each figure is the median across the 217 grid cells holding the 354 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 1447:5234 (17.625, 81.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 8.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 11.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.4 °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 217 distinct grid cells holding the 354 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1447:5234 (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 17.50_81.875, lapse-corrected +160 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 513 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: Steven Bodzin, BY via GBIF · CC BY; Raja Sekhar Chimirala, BY via GBIF · CC BY (3); Anil Madhavapeddy, BY via GBIF · CC BY; Dr. Chinchu C., BY via GBIF · CC BY; Haneesh K M, CC0 via GBIF (2).
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 Polyalthia longifolia, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
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.
Ficus benghalensis Banyan
Terminalia arjuna Arjun tree
Nyctanthes arbor-tristis Coral jasmine
Phoenix sylvestris Indian date
Sesamum indicum Beniseed
Impatiens balsamina BalsamHistory & 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 answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search APIclimate answeredwikidata 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: skippedinat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)inat.photos.wild not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: not asked: 11 wild photographs already from the GBIF downloadinat.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 answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 4 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








