Ocotea puberula(Rich.) Nees

WFO wfo-0000383318 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 6 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 6 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Ocotea puberula, photographed by Rafael Tosi
fig. a Rafael Tosi, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-01-08 / obs. 177366598
Ocotea puberula, photographed by William G. Borges
fig. b William G. Borges, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 165688828
Ocotea puberula, photographed by Fernando Sessegolo
fig. c Fernando Sessegolo, CC0 1.0 / obs. 106552345
Ocotea puberula, photographed by Hugo Hulsberg
fig. d Hugo Hulsberg, CC0 1.0 / obs. 176763059
Ocotea puberula, photographed by Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
fig. e Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 30499835
Ocotea puberula, photographed by William G. Borges
fig. f William G. Borges, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 165688845
Ocotea puberula, photographed by Fernando Sessegolo
fig. g Fernando Sessegolo, CC0 1.0 / obs. 106552359
Ocotea puberula, photographed by B. Phalan
fig. h B. Phalan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 48446493

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 24 botanical countries

Regions where Ocotea puberula is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorFrench GuianaGuyanaPanamáParaguayPeruSurinameUruguayVenezuela
Native distribution of Ocotea puberula, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Ecuador ECU
French Guiana FRG
Guyana GUY
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Suriname SUR
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
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 81 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 7.2 °C 9.2 °C 13.6 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 24.3 °C 27.6 °C 31.0 °C
Annual rainfall 1,373 mm 1,795 mm 2,490 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 31 mm 342 mm 487 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 81 research-grade observations of Ocotea puberula 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 27 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.

  • Gymnobalanus perseoides Meisn.
  • Laurus puberula Rich.
  • Myrcia schaueriana O.Berg
  • Myrtus dioica Spreng.
  • Ocotea arechavaletae Mez
  • Ocotea baturitensis Vattimo-Gil
  • Ocotea martiniana (Nees) Mez
  • Ocotea paraensis Coe-Teix.
  • Ocotea paranapiacabensis Coe-Teix.
  • Ocotea puberula var. arechavaletae (Mez) Hassl.
  • Ocotea puberula var. truncata (Meisn.) Mez
  • Ocotea pyramidata S.F.Blake ex Brandegee
  • Ocotea subglabra Benoist
  • Ocotea ucayalensis O.C.Schmidt
  • Oreodaphne acutifolia var. latifolia Nees
  • Oreodaphne hostmanniana Miq.
  • Oreodaphne martiniana Nees
  • Oreodaphne martiniana var. dubia Meisn.
  • Oreodaphne martiniana var. latifolia Meisn.
  • Oreodaphne martiniana var. opaca Meisn.
  • Oreodaphne perseoides Nees ex Meisn.
  • Oreodaphne warmingii Meisn.
  • Persea marginata Bartl. ex Meisn.
  • Persea richardiana Schltdl. & Cham.

and 3 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. 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.