Cordia alliodora(Ruiz & Pav.) Oken

ManjackSpanish elm

WFO wfo-0000620227 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cordia alliodora, photographed by Brian Oakes Haiti Hunter
fig. a Brian Oakes Haiti Hunter, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-02-08 / obs. 112435456
Cordia alliodora, photographed by maryury
fig. b maryury, CC0 1.0 / obs. 113649204
Cordia alliodora, photographed by Brian Oakes Haiti Hunter
fig. c Brian Oakes Haiti Hunter, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 111972881
Cordia alliodora, photographed by Daniel Pineda Vera
fig. d Daniel Pineda Vera, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 109651309
Cordia alliodora, photographed by Alexis López Hernández
fig. e Alexis López Hernández, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 109262526
Cordia alliodora, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. f Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 66827000
Cordia alliodora, photographed by Francisco Farriols Sarabia
fig. g Francisco Farriols Sarabia, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 28061972
Cordia alliodora, photographed by Francisco Farriols Sarabia
fig. h Francisco Farriols Sarabia, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 26757317

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 37 botanical countries

Regions where Cordia alliodora is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Argentina Northwest, 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, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestArgentina NorthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSouthwest CaribbeanSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela Leeward Is.Venezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Cordia alliodora, 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 Northwest AGW 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
Puerto Rico PUE
Southwest Caribbean SWC
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 347 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 12.9 °C 18.5 °C 23.6 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 25.5 °C 30.1 °C 34.3 °C
Annual rainfall 759 mm 1,595 mm 3,453 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 6 mm 81 mm 346 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 347 research-grade observations of Cordia alliodora 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 22 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.

  • Cerdana alliodora Ruiz & Pav.
  • Cerdana cujabensis Manso ex DC.
  • Cordia alliodora f. albotomentosa Chodat & Hassl.
  • Cordia alliodora var. boliviana Chodat & Vischer
  • Cordia alliodora var. glabra A.DC.
  • Cordia alliodora var. tomentosa A.DC.
  • Cordia andina Chodat
  • Cordia cerdana Roem. & Schult.
  • Cordia chamissoniana var. complicata Chodat
  • Cordia cujabensis Silva Manso & Lhotsky ex Cham.
  • Cordia gerascanthus var. subcanescens DC.
  • Cordia goudotii Chodat
  • Cordia velutina Mart.
  • Gerascanthus alliodorus (Ruiz & Pav.) M.Kuhlm. & Mattos
  • Gerascanthus cujabensis (Manso & Lhotsky ex Cham.) Borhidi
  • Gerascanthus velutina Fresen.
  • Gerascanthus velutinus Fresen.
  • Lithocardium alliodorum (Ruiz & Pav.) Kuntze
  • Lithocardium cujabense (Silva Manso & Lhotzky ex Cham.) Kuntze
  • Lithocardium gerascanthus var. alliodorum (Ruiz & Pav.) Kuntze
  • Varronia rusbyi (Rusby) Borhidi
  • Varronia tuberosa Sessé & Moc.

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.