Species
+

Adenia digitata (Harv.) Engl.

Wild Granadilla

Climate known 48 photographs Bulb, tuber or caudex
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Adenia digitata is a species of flowering plant in the passionflower family, Passifloraceae. It is a climbing geophyte, from 0.2 to 3 meters long, which grows from a tuber. It is native to southern and eastern Africa, from Tanzania and Angola to the Northern Provinces and KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

Text from Wikipedia, “Adenia digitata”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Adenia

Adenia is a genus of flowering plants in the passionflower family Passifloraceae. It contains about 100 species distributed in the Old World tropics and subtropics. The centers of diversity are in Madagascar, eastern and western tropical Africa, and Southeast Asia. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Adenia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Passifloraceae
Described by
(Harv.) Engl.
Native to
Tanzania, Angola, Malawi +7
Wild records
265 in range· 170 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Jan, mean day; nights 18 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
756mm/yr
7 wet months · peak Jan 134 mm (CHELSA)
Light
24–39DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by the genus Adenia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (November to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 756 mm a year, wettest January at 134 mm, driest June at 10 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 3.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Adenia angustisecta Burtt Davy; Adenia buchananii Harms; Adenia digitata BurttDavy; Adenia multiflora Potts; Adenia senensis (Klotzsch) Engl. and 4 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by the genus Adenia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (November to March at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (580 mm of 756 mm) falls in November to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 22.8 °C against a yearly mean of 19.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 756 mm a year, wettest January at 134 mm, driest June at 10 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

756 mm a year at the habitat, 580 mm of it November to March. Wettest month January at 134 mm, driest June at 10 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 531 mm to 1157 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

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

Light Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 3.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 3.8 °C, the absolute minimum 0.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 7.6 °C in July (across the envelope cells 4.5 °C to 11.8 °C), warmest day 27.9 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 3.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 21 °C in Jun to 28 °C in Jan; mean night from 8 °C in Jul to 18 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 756 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 240 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 0.4 °C and the 99th-percentile day 34.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost34.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)0.4° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 24–39RH 54–61 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 240 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C28 / 25–3128 / 25–3027 / 24–3025 / 22–2823 / 20–2621 / 18–2421 / 18–2423 / 20–2626 / 23–2826 / 23–3027 / 24–3028 / 25–30
Night °C18 / 16–2118 / 16–2117 / 14–2014 / 12–1811 / 8–158 / 5–128 / 5–129 / 7–1412 / 10–1615 / 12–1816 / 13–1918 / 15–20
Rain mm134 / 96–222123 / 83–21792 / 65–15145 / 28–6816 / 11–2910 / 6–2010 / 2–2112 / 4–2221 / 9–3662 / 33–92106 / 74–144125 / 89–191
DLI39 / 36–4337 / 35–4134 / 32–3730 / 28–3227 / 25–2924 / 22–2625 / 23–2830 / 27–3335 / 31–3936 / 32–4237 / 34–4238 / 36–44
RH %61 / 55–6661 / 55–6661 / 55–6559 / 53–6256 / 51–5954 / 50–5854 / 49–5754 / 47–5654 / 46–5857 / 49–6159 / 53–6360 / 54–65

Each figure is the median across the 240 grid cells holding the 263 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2157:4221 (-17.875, 31.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 0.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 3.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 240 distinct grid cells holding the 263 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2157:4221 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -18.00_31.250, lapse-corrected +48 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1481 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeTanzania, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces
Kew's description“climbing caudex geophyte” · “desert or dry shrubland”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-25.593, 31.371 · in the densest population, 128 records (48% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 265 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 170 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 74 km away. 2 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 265 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Adenia digitataAdenia digitataAdenia digitataAdenia digitataAdenia digitataAdenia digitataAdenia digitataAdenia digitata

Photographs: (c) Andrew Hankey, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (3); no rights reserved · CC0 (5).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Adenia digitata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Plant toxic proteins with insecticidal properties. A review on their potentialities as bioinsecticides
Célia R. Carlini, Maria Fátima Grossi‐de‐Sá (2002) · Toxicon
The ethnobotany of the Vhavenda
Dowelani Edward Ndivhudzannyi Mabogo (2012) · UpSpace Institutional Repository (University of Pretoria)
Antioxidant activities and phenolic contents of the methanol extracts of the stems of Acokanthera oppositifolia and Adenia gummifera
Adeolu Alex Adedapo, Florence O. Jimoh, Anthony Jide Afolayan, P.J. Masika (2008) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Zulu medicinal ethnobotany: new records from the Amandawe area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
L.S. Mhlongo, B.-E. Van Wyk (2019) · South African Journal of Botany
Ribosome-Inactivating Proteins from Plants: A Historical Overview
Andrea Bolognesi, Massimo Bortolotti, Stefania Maiello, Maria Giulia Battelli (2016) · Molecules
An inventory of Vhavenḓa useful plants
K. Magwede, B.-E. Van Wyk, A.E. van Wyk (2018) · South African Journal of Botany
Molecular systematics of Malpighiaceae: evidence from plastid rbcL and matK sequences
Kenneth M. Cameron, Mark W. Chase, William R. Anderson, Harold G. Hills (2001) · American Journal of Botany
An inventory and analysis of the food plants of southern Africa
A.K. Welcome, B.-E. Van Wyk (2018) · South African Journal of Botany
Ribosome-Inactivating and Related Proteins
Joachim Schrot, Alexander Weng, Matthias F. Melzig (2015) · Toxins
Effect of α-sarcin and ribosome-inactivating proteins on the interaction of elongation factors with ribosomes
Maurizio Brigotti, F Rambelli, M Zamboni, Lucio Montanaro (1989) · Biochemical Journal
Plant‐Derived Lectins as Potential Cancer Therapeutics and Diagnostic Tools
Milena Mazalovska, J. Calvin Kouokam (2020) · BioMed Research International
Immunotoxins Constructed with Ribosome-Inactivating Proteins and their Enhancers: A Lethal Cocktail with Tumor Specific Efficacy
Roger Gilabert‐Oriol, Alexander Weng, Benedicta von Mallinckrodt, Matthias F. Melzig (2014) · Current Pharmaceutical Design

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Adenia 96 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 16 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.