Species
+

Pometia pinnata J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.

Ar, Fijian longan, Oceanic Lychee, Taun tree, Island lychee

Climate known 77 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

The Pometia pinnata is a tropical hardwood tree species that is widespread in the Pacific and Southeast Asian regions. The tree species has many common names, including matoa, tava, taun tree, Island lychee and Pacific lychee. The species comes from the Sapindaceae family and comes from the clades of Tracheophytes, Angiosperms, and the order Sapindales.

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

Family
Sapindaceae
Described by
J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
Native to
China South-Central, Taiwan, Sri Lanka +25
Wild records
970 in range· 770 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Mar, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2869mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Dec 267 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–34DLI
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: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (October to May at the habitat (not shifted)). Habitat rain 2869 mm a year, wettest December at 267 mm, driest August at 205 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 34 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 19.4 °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 Aphania neoebudica Guillaumin; Aporetica pinnata (J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) DC.; Cnesmocarpus excelsus Zipp.; Cnesmocarpus excelsus Zipp. ex Blume; Dabanus acuminatus (Hook.fil.) Kuntze and 35 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (October to May at the habitat (not shifted)).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (2013 mm of 2869 mm) takes 8 months, October to May. Mean temperature moves 0.6 °C between the warmest and coldest month. 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 2869 mm a year, wettest December at 267 mm, driest August at 205 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2869 mm a year at the habitat, 2013 mm of it October to May. Wettest month December at 267 mm, driest August at 205 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 2060 mm to 4166 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: 30 to 34 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 34 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 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

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 19.4 °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 19.4 °C, the absolute minimum 16.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 23.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells 17.6 °C to 25.5 °C), warmest day 28.2 °C in March (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.4 °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: 67 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 yearA flat year: mean day about 28 °C and mean night about 23 °C in every month, so the cold quarter is shaded by rounding only. 2869 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 734 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 16.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 37.4 °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°37.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)16.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 30–34RH 67–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 734 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 / 24–2928 / 24–3028 / 25–3028 / 26–3028 / 26–3028 / 26–3028 / 25–3028 / 25–3028 / 26–3028 / 25–3028 / 24–3028 / 23–29
Night °C23 / 18–2623 / 18–2623 / 18–2624 / 19–2624 / 20–2624 / 20–2623 / 19–2623 / 19–2623 / 19–2523 / 19–2523 / 19–2623 / 18–26
Rain mm260 / 98–481242 / 83–434262 / 102–418250 / 115–396241 / 162–356213 / 127–377213 / 118–384205 / 105–374225 / 118–393242 / 128–382249 / 141–401267 / 146–468
DLI32 / 25–3733 / 28–3734 / 29–3833 / 28–3831 / 27–3530 / 25–3431 / 25–3533 / 28–3634 / 29–3834 / 28–3932 / 25–3930 / 24–37
RH %68 / 64–7368 / 64–7268 / 64–7268 / 64–7268 / 65–7268 / 64–7267 / 64–7267 / 63–7167 / 64–7168 / 64–7168 / 64–7268 / 64–73

Each figure is the median across the 734 grid cells holding the 954 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 1975:6565 (-8.775, 148.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 16.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.4 °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 734 distinct grid cells holding the 954 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1975:6565 (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 -9.00_148.125, lapse-corrected -743 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 87 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, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Santa Cruz Is., Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Tuamotu· introduced: Cook Is., Marquesas, Marshall Is.
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-6.75, 146.667 · in the densest population, 159 records (16% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 970 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 770 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 32 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 16 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 970 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Pometia pinnataPometia pinnataPometia pinnataPometia pinnataPometia pinnataPometia pinnataPometia pinnataPometia pinnata

Photographs: (c) Cheng-Te Hsu, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Tatsutomo Chin, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Robert Webster, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (4); (c) 胡正恆(Jackson Hu), 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 Pometia pinnata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Potential disruptions to seed dispersal mutualisms in Tonga, Western Polynesia
Hayley J. Meehan, Kim R. McConkey, Donald R. Drake (2002) · Journal of Biogeography
Antidiabetic Activity and Phytochemical Screening of Extracts from Indonesian Plants by Inhibition of Alpha Amylase, Alpha Glucosidase and Dipeptidyl Peptidase IV
Berna Elya, Rosita Handayani, Rani Sauriasari, Azizahwati Azizahwati (2015) · Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences
The Role of pH in Synthesis Silver Nanoparticles Using Pometia pinnata (Matoa) Leaves Extract as Bioreductor
Wiwik Handayani, Agustin Setya Ningrum, Cuk Imawan (2020) · Journal of Physics Conference Series
Green synthesis of CeO 2 and Zr/Sn-dual doped CeO 2 nanoparticles with photoantioxidant and antibiofilm activities
Siti Najihah Naidi, Fazlurrahman Khan, Ai Ling Tan, Mohammad Hilni Harunsani (2021) · Biomaterials Science
Photoantioxidant and antibiofilm studies of green synthesized Sn-doped CeO 2 nanoparticles using aqueous leaf extracts of Pometia pinnata
Siti Najihah Naidi, Fazlurrahman Khan, Ai Ling Tan, Mohammad Hilni Harunsani (2021) · New Journal of Chemistry
Wild edible fruits generate substantial income for local people of the Gunung Leuser National Park, Aceh Tamiang Region
Adi Bejo Suwardi, Zidni Ilman Navia, Tisna Harmawan, Syamsuardi Syamsuardi (2020) · Ethnobotany Research and Applications
Anti-HIV-1 integrase compound fromPometia pinnataleaves
Areerat Suedee, Supinya Tewtrakul, Pharkphoom Panichayupakaranant (2013) · Pharmaceutical Biology
Analysis of importance value index of unlogged and logged peat swamp forest in Nenasi Forest Reserve, Peninsular Malaysia
Mohd Hasmadi Ismail, Pakhriazad Hassan Zaki, MOHD FADLI AHMAD FUAD, Noor Janatun Naim Jemali (2017) · Bonorowo Wetlands
Reproductive patterns of selected understorey trees in the Malaysian rain forest: the sexual species
C. O. HA, Valerie E. Sands, E. Soepadmo, Kwiton Jong (1988) · Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society

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.

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.