Flacourtia indica(Burm.f.) Merr.

governor's plum

WFO wfo-0000925655 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Flacourtia indica, photographed by Ben
fig. a Ben, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-28 / obs. 201199000
Flacourtia indica, photographed by Dinesh Valke
fig. b Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 198019300
Flacourtia indica, photographed by Haneesh K M
fig. c Haneesh K M, CC0 1.0 / obs. 195978650
Flacourtia indica, photographed by Haneesh K M
fig. d Haneesh K M, CC0 1.0 / obs. 155067646
Flacourtia indica, photographed by S.MORE
fig. e S.MORE, CC0 1.0 / obs. 112248453
Flacourtia indica, photographed by S.MORE
fig. f S.MORE, CC0 1.0 / obs. 63913010
Flacourtia indica, photographed by Dinesh Valke
fig. g Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 119130981
Flacourtia indica, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. h Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 50476761

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 42 botanical countries

Regions where Flacourtia indica is native: Aldabra, Botswana, Burundi, Cape Provinces, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Jawa, Laccadive Is., Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Thailand, Vietnam BotswanaBurundiCape ProvincesCongoDR CongoEthiopiaKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMalawiMozambiqueNamibiaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanAssamBangladeshCambodiaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMyanmarNepalPakistanPhilippinesSri LankaSulawesiThailandVietnam AldabraComorosLaccadive Is.
Native distribution of Flacourtia indica, 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
Aldabra ALD AFRICA
Botswana BOT
Burundi BUR
Cape Provinces CPP
Comoros COM
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Ethiopia ETH
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Cambodia CBD
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laccadive Is. LDV
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH

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 377 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 6.4 °C 15.2 °C 22.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 25.9 °C 30.9 °C 39.4 °C
Annual rainfall 634 mm 1,026 mm 2,421 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 3 mm 26 mm 210 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 377 research-grade observations of Flacourtia indica 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 28 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.

  • Flacourtia afra Pic.Serm.
  • Flacourtia balansae Gagnep.
  • Flacourtia elliptica (Tul.) Warb.
  • Flacourtia frondosa Clos
  • Flacourtia gambecola Clos
  • Flacourtia heterophylla Turcz.
  • Flacourtia hilsenbergii C.Presl
  • Flacourtia hirtiuscula Oliv.
  • Flacourtia indica var. innocua (Haines) H.O.Saxena & Brahmam
  • Flacourtia kirkiana H.M.Gardner
  • Flacourtia lenis Craib
  • Flacourtia lucida Salisb.
  • Flacourtia obcordata Roxb.
  • Flacourtia parvifolia Merr.
  • Flacourtia perrottetiana Clos
  • Flacourtia ramontchi L'Hér.
  • Flacourtia ramontchi var. renvoizei Fosberg
  • Flacourtia rotundifolia Clos
  • Flacourtia rotundifolia Roxb.
  • Flacourtia sapida Roxb.
  • Flacourtia sepiaria Roxb.
  • Flacourtia thorelii Gagnep.
  • Gmelina indica Burm.f.
  • Gmelina javanica Christm.

and 4 more.

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.