Species
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Polyscias guilfoylei (W.Bull ex Cogn. & Marchal) Bailey

Geranium Aralia, Geranium aralia, Lace Aralia, coffeetree

Climate known 13 photographs Tropical foliage plant
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

Polyscias guilfoylei, the geranium aralia or wild coffee, is a species of evergreen shrub native to the paleotropics and neotropics. It is not closely related to the true coffee plants of the genus Coffea. It has erect branches and can grow to a height of up to 24 ft (7.3 m). The leaves are long and 1-pinnate with leaflets which are opposite. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Polyscias guilfoylei”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Polyscias

Polyscias is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae with a natural distribution from tropical Africa through Southeast Asia and Australia to islands of the Pacific. As of February 2026, Plants of the World Online recognises 28 synonyms and about 180 species for the genus.

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

Family
Araliaceae
Described by
(W.Bull ex Cogn. & Marchal) Bailey
Native to
Maluku, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea +3
Wild records
8 in range· 8 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Feb, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2335mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Mar 338 mm (CHELSA)
Light
22–42DLI
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 tropical foliage plant by the genus Polyscias, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to November in the northern hemisphere (November to May at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 2335 mm a year, wettest March at 338 mm, driest September at 91 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 42 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 19.6 °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 Aralia guilfoylei W.Bull; Aralia laciniata (Rob.) Rafarin; Aralia maculata W.Bull; Aralia monstrosa B.S.Williams; Aralia monstrosa Truff. and 18 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Polyscias, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to November in the northern hemisphere (November to May 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 (1752 mm of 2335 mm) falls in November to May, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.8 °C against a yearly mean of 23.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to November.

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 2335 mm a year, wettest March at 338 mm, driest September at 91 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2335 mm a year at the habitat, 1752 mm of it November to May. Wettest month March at 338 mm, driest September at 91 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1794 mm to 4704 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: 22 to 42 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 42 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 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

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 19.6 °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 19.6 °C, the absolute minimum 17.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 26.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 20.9 °C in August (across the envelope cells 19.1 °C to 23.8 °C), warmest day 27.4 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER); the archetype table's minimum for a tropical foliage plant, 12 °C, is lower and does not raise it.

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, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 68% 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 23 °C in Aug to 27 °C in Feb; mean night from 21 °C in Aug to 25 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jul to Sep, is the three months around the coldest night. 2335 mm of rain a year, most in Mar. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 8 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 17.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 26.9 °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°26.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)17.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 22–42RH 62–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 8 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 °C27 / 26–2827 / 26–2827 / 26–2826 / 25–2825 / 24–2724 / 23–2623 / 22–2623 / 22–2624 / 22–2625 / 23–2726 / 24–2727 / 25–28
Night °C24 / 22–2625 / 23–2624 / 22–2624 / 22–2623 / 21–2522 / 20–2521 / 19–2421 / 19–2421 / 20–2422 / 20–2423 / 21–2524 / 22–26
Rain mm264 / 197–423302 / 234–426338 / 248–431271 / 195–450205 / 143–433151 / 124–411112 / 84–394108 / 81–37491 / 75–338121 / 92–326174 / 96–354198 / 151–371
DLI41 / 36–4237 / 34–3934 / 32–3730 / 28–3225 / 23–2822 / 20–2523 / 20–2628 / 24–3034 / 30–3539 / 36–4041 / 37–4242 / 38–43
RH %67 / 64–7467 / 64–7468 / 64–7568 / 63–7466 / 61–7265 / 61–7262 / 59–7062 / 59–7063 / 60–7065 / 61–7066 / 62–7267 / 62–72

Each figure is the median across the 8 grid cells holding the 8 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 2152:6967 (-17.625, 168.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 17.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 26.9 °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 8 distinct grid cells holding the 8 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2152:6967 (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_168.125, lapse-corrected +389 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 398 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.
NativeMaluku, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Santa Cruz Is., Vanuatu· introduced: Guinea, Mozambique, Comoros, Hainan, China Southeast, Thailand, Gilbert Is., Nauru, Niue, Tonga, Tuvalu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Cook Is., Line Is., Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Wake I., Florida, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-15.982, 167.369 · in the densest population, 5 records (63% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 8 georeferenced records inside the native range, all openly licensed and shown on the map. 195 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. Under a dozen records: treat the map and the climate as indicative.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 8 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Polyscias guilfoyleiPolyscias guilfoyleiPolyscias guilfoyleiPolyscias guilfoyleiPolyscias guilfoyleiPolyscias guilfoyleiPolyscias guilfoyleiPolyscias guilfoylei

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Tara Severns, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); Damien Wallace, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF; Yves Baque, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Tara Severns, CC BY, iNaturalist 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 Polyscias guilfoylei, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antioxidative and α-glucosidase inhibitory constituents of Polyscias guilfoylei: experimental and computational assessments
Le Thị Tu Anh, Ninh The Son, Nguyễn Văn Tuyên, Phan Thi Thuy (2021) · Molecular Diversity
Antiproliferative Oleanane Saponins from Polyscias Guilfoylei
Giuseppina Cioffi, Antonio Vassallo, Laura Lepore, Fabio Venturella (2008) · Natural Product Communications
Phytoconstituents from Polyscias guilfoylei leaves with histamine-release inhibition activity
Naglaa S. Ashmawy, Haidy A. Gad, Nawal M. Al-Musayeib, Sherweit H. El‐Ahmady (2019) · Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C
OLEANANE SAPONINS FROM POLYSCIAS GUILFOYLEI BAIL. (ARALIACEAE)
Tuyet Thi Anh Nguyen, Thu Thuy Anh Nguyen, Hang Thi Nguyen, Suong Ngoc Nguyen (2009) · Science and Technology Development Journal
Macroscopic and Microscopic Studies of Polyscias guilfoylei L. H. Bailey Leaves (Araliaceae)
Siti Marwah Lestari, Berna Elya, Sutriyo Sutriyo S (2019) · Pharmacognosy Journal
Comparative Study on the Volatile Constituents of Polyscias guilfoylei and Polyscias balfouriana Leaves
Naglaa S Ashmawya, Haidy A. Gad, Mohamed L Ashoura, Sherweit H El-Ahmadya (2018) · Medicinal & Aromatic Plants
Neuroprotective Effects of Ethanol Extract Polyscias guilfoylei (EEPG) Against Glutamate Induced Neurotoxicity in HT22 Cells
Qui Ngoc Sang Nguyen, Ki‐Yeon Yoo, Trang Thanh Pham, Baskar Selvaraj (2024) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Chemical Profile and Anticancer Activity of Polyscias guilfoylei Leaf Essential Oil
Rajani Kurup, Ajikumaran Nair Sadasivan, Uthayakumari Kalavathy, Sabulal Baby (2019) · The Natural Products Journal
Bacterial Leaf Blight of Polyscias guilfoylei Caused by a Novel Pathovar of Xanthomonas euvesicatoria
Liang-Hsuan Wang, Jiun-Jie Chan, Yi-Hsin Wang, Zi-Qing Fang (2022) · Plant Disease
KUALITAS SPERMATOZOA DARI TANAMAN Polyscias guilfoylei
Berna Elya, Dadang Kusmana, Nevy Krinalawaty (2011) · MAKARA of Science Series

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 Polyscias 3 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 63 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.