Alibertia edulis(Rich.) A.Rich. ex DC.

WFO wfo-0000941730 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Alibertia edulis, photographed by Martín Sánchez Vilchis
fig. a Martín Sánchez Vilchis, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2017-08-11 / obs. 9700784
Alibertia edulis, photographed by Katja Schulz
fig. b Katja Schulz, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 6502873
Alibertia edulis, photographed by Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
fig. c Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 30109727
Alibertia edulis, photographed by Eduardo Chacón Madrigal
fig. d Eduardo Chacón Madrigal, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201884760
Alibertia edulis, photographed by Cristiane Colodel
fig. e Cristiane Colodel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 183937778
Alibertia edulis, photographed by Olvin Wilfredo Oyuela
fig. f Olvin Wilfredo Oyuela, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 175182989
Alibertia edulis, photographed by Carlos Bolaños
fig. g Carlos Bolaños, CC0 1.0 / obs. 84834399
Alibertia edulis, photographed by Tsssss
fig. h Tsssss, CC0 1.0 / obs. 90721500

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 28 botanical countries

Regions where Alibertia edulis is native: Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Southwest Caribbean, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Windward Is. Mexico GulfMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHondurasNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruSouthwest CaribbeanSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela Windward Is.
Native distribution of Alibertia edulis, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Belize BLZ SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Honduras HON
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Southwest Caribbean SWC
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Gulf MXG NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 161 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 14.4 °C 18.7 °C 24.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 28.1 °C 30.3 °C 34.3 °C
Annual rainfall 1,206 mm 2,055 mm 3,606 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 16 mm 106 mm 271 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 161 research-grade observations of Alibertia edulis that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 23 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Alibertia acuminata (Benth.) Sandwith
  • Alibertia acuminata var. obtusiuscula Steyerm.
  • Alibertia davidasae Steyerm.
  • Alibertia hexagyna H.Karst.
  • Alibertia longistipulata L.Riley
  • Alibertia panamensis L.Riley
  • Alibertia premontana C.M.Taylor
  • Alibertia tobagensis Sprague & R.O.Williams
  • Alibertia trinitatis Sprague & R.O.Williams
  • Alibertia tutumilla Rusby
  • Alibertia utilis A.Rich.
  • Amaioua edulis (Rich.) Baill.
  • Amaioua utilis Baill.
  • Borojoa lanceolata (Cham.) Cuatrec.
  • Cordiera acuminata Benth.
  • Cordiera edulis (Rich.) Kuntze
  • Cordiera hexagyna (H.Karst.) Kuntze
  • Gardenia edulis (Rich.) Poir.
  • Genipa edulis Rich.
  • Sabicea edulis Seem. ex B.D.Jacks.
  • Sabicea edulis Seem.
  • Thieleodoxa lanceolata Cham.
  • Thieleodoxa nitidula Bremek.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.