Canavalia brasiliensisMart. ex Benth.

Brazilian jackbean

WFO wfo-0000183534 Accepted WFO 2026-06 6 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–f · 6 separate observations

Canavalia brasiliensis, photographed by demianlescano
fig. a demianlescano, CC0 1.0 / 2019-02-27 / obs. 71312989
Canavalia brasiliensis, photographed by Francisco Farriols Sarabia
fig. b Francisco Farriols Sarabia, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 30015151
Canavalia brasiliensis, photographed by Bill Levine
fig. c Bill Levine, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 27537803
Canavalia brasiliensis, photographed by Francisco Farriols Sarabia
fig. d Francisco Farriols Sarabia, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 1429915
Canavalia brasiliensis, photographed by Francisco Farriols Sarabia
fig. e Francisco Farriols Sarabia, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 5266020
Canavalia brasiliensis, photographed by Francisco Farriols Sarabia
fig. f Francisco Farriols Sarabia, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 5664194

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 35 botanical countries

Regions where Canavalia brasiliensis is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Argentina Northeast, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestArgentina NortheastBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela Leeward Is.Venezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Canavalia brasiliensis, 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
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Belize BLZ
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
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Venezuelan Antilles VNA
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
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 88 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 12.3 °C 18.0 °C 24.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 29.3 °C 31.5 °C 35.9 °C
Annual rainfall 548 mm 796 mm 3,195 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 6 mm 15 mm 240 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 88 research-grade observations of Canavalia brasiliensis 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 13 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.

  • Canavalia amazonica Piper
  • Canavalia anomala Piper
  • Canavalia campylocarpa Piper
  • Canavalia caribaea Urb.
  • Canavalia dictyota Piper
  • Canavalia dictyota var. dictyota
  • Canavalia dictyota var. ferruginea Aymard & Cuello
  • Canavalia fendleri Piper
  • Canavalia leptophylla Piper
  • Canavalia mexicana Piper
  • Canavalia panamensis Piper
  • Canavalia paraguayensis Piper
  • Canavalia prolifica Piper ex Ricker

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.