Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Acianthera sicaria; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2026-08-24

Acianthera sicaria (Lindl.) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase

Orchidaceae · Costa Rica, Honduras +7

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Acianthera sicaria, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedAcianthera sicaria, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedAcianthera sicaria, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedAcianthera sicaria, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 5 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
10.7°C
Record low 7.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
20°C
Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct and Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,078mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–31DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,205 mm of 2,939 mm) takes 8 months, March to June and September to December. Mean temperature moves 0.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,939 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,205 mm of it March to June and September to December. Wettest month May at 336 mm, driest month January at 152 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,655 mm to 3,840 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,078 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,939 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 31 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 37).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 10.7 °C, the absolute minimum 7.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 24.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 12.9 °C in January, July, August and September (across the grid cells of the range 8.5 °C to 19.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 20.3 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 10.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 67 to 73% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -345 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Acianthera sicaria through the yearWarmest months January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and December, mean daily high 20 °C; coldest months January, July, August and September, mean nightly low 12.9 °C; 2,939 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.5°10°15°20°25°30°24.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER7.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 25–31RH 67–73%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 23 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C20 / 16–2420 / 16–2520 / 16–2520 / 16–2420 / 16–2420 / 16–2420 / 15–2320 / 16–2420 / 16–2420 / 16–2419 / 16–2420 / 16–24
Night °C13 / 9–2013 / 9–2013 / 9–2014 / 9–2014 / 9–2013 / 9–2013 / 8–2013 / 8–2013 / 8–2013 / 9–2013 / 9–2013 / 8–20
Rain mm152 / 86–242166 / 97–224225 / 131–304294 / 190–379336 / 166–416241 / 103–399212 / 87–389204 / 83–462227 / 89–480332 / 202–514329 / 200–423221 / 143–301
DLI30 / 24–3431 / 25–3531 / 25–3527 / 21–3226 / 19–3125 / 18–3326 / 20–3528 / 21–3730 / 20–3727 / 19–3325 / 19–3127 / 21–32
RH %69 / 62–7768 / 62–7669 / 65–7671 / 68–7770 / 65–7668 / 63–7667 / 61–7667 / 60–7768 / 60–7871 / 65–7873 / 68–7971 / 66–79
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 23 grid cells holding the 25 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1706:2087 (4.675, -75.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 7.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 10.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 24.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 23 distinct grid cells holding 25 of the 25 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1706:2087 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 4.50_-75.625, lapse-corrected -345 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1922 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCosta Rica, Honduras, Panama, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker5.297, -75.715 · in the densest population, 52 records (64% of those in range)
Kew's description“epiphyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 81 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 25 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 68 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 78 km away. 56 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 81 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Acianthera sicaria, photograph 1did not loadAcianthera sicaria, photograph 2did not loadAcianthera sicaria, photograph 3did not loadAcianthera sicaria, photograph 4did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Miltoniopsis vexillaria Miltoniopsis vexillaria Showy Miltoniopsis Photo: CC BY, Yannick PochonMaxillaria fractiflexa Maxillaria fractiflexa Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel MesaMagnolia hernandezii Magnolia hernandezii Magnoliaceae Photo: CC BY, Connor Connolly-MoylsCipuropsis capituligera Cipuropsis capituligera Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Mario GuzmánHeliconia burleana Heliconia burleana Heliconiaceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel MesaWettinia kalbreyeri Wettinia kalbreyeri Macana Palm Photo: CC BY, Daniel Mesa

Other Acianthera 16 in the reference

Acianthera aphthosa Acianthera aphthosa Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, bruno_san1409Acianthera bragae Acianthera bragae Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Carlos Otávio GussoniAcianthera chionopa Acianthera chionopa Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel MesaAcianthera circumplexa Acianthera circumplexa Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Juan Cruzado CortésAcianthera glumacea Acianthera glumacea Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, rafa perazzoloAcianthera johnsonii Acianthera johnsonii Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Moises BéharAcianthera leptotifolia Acianthera leptotifolia Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Johann MacedoAcianthera luteola Acianthera luteola Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Patrícia MeesAcianthera pectinata Acianthera pectinata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Americo Docha NetoAcianthera polystachya Acianthera polystachya Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Jhon A. Yuca-PalominoAcianthera prolifera Acianthera prolifera Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexandre MagnoAcianthera pubescens Acianthera pubescens Hairy Bonnet Orchid Photo: CC BY, Paulo C. O. Cunha all 17 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Acianthera alpina; Humboltia sicaria; Pleurothallis alpina; Pleurothallis sicaria; Pleurothallis trigonopoda and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Orchidaceae
Described by
(Lindl.) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase
Native to
Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama +6
Wild records
81 in range · 68 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 4.50_-75.625, lapse-corrected -345 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Acianthera sicaria (Lindl.) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase (the item's: IPNI 20003680-1, POWO 1104919-2)
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
Wikimedia Commons commons nothing to reportasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 24 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…