Species
+

Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus (Lem.) K.Schum.

Living Rock, Pata de Venado, Pezuna de Venado, living-rock

Climate known 61 photographs Cactus or succulent
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

Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus is a species of plant in the family Cactaceae.

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

About the genus · Ariocarpus

Ariocarpus is a small genus of succulent, subtropical plants of the family Cactaceae.

Text from Wikipedia, “Ariocarpus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
(Lem.) K.Schum.
Native to
Mexico Northeast
Wild records
257 in range· 154 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
May, mean day; nights 17 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
410mm/yr
6 wet months · peak Jul 76 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–46DLI
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 cactus or succulent by the genus Ariocarpus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 410 mm a year, wettest July at 76 mm, driest March at 9 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 46 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 1.1 °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 Anhalonium fissipedum Monv.; Anhalonium fissipedum Monv. ex C.F.Forst.; Anhalonium kostschoubeyanum Lem.; Anhalonium kotchubeyi Lem.; Anhalonium kotchubeyi Lem. ex Salm-Dyck and 26 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Ariocarpus, 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 (May to September at the habitat, northern).

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 (295 mm of 410 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.1 °C against a yearly mean of 19.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

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 410 mm a year, wettest July at 76 mm, driest March at 9 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

410 mm a year at the habitat, 295 mm of it May to September. Wettest month July at 76 mm, driest March at 9 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 301 mm to 552 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern 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: 27 to 46 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 46 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 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

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 1.1 °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 1.1 °C, the absolute minimum -5.1 °C, about 2 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 7.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells 6.2 °C to 9.8 °C), warmest day 29.8 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 1.1 °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: 51 to 60% 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 Jan to 30 °C in May; mean night from 8 °C in Jan to 18 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 410 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 28 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -5.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 34.2 °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°frost34.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)-5.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 27–46RH 51–60 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 28 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 °C21 / 20–2224 / 22–2527 / 24–2829 / 27–3030 / 28–3229 / 26–3228 / 24–3028 / 25–3026 / 23–2825 / 23–2724 / 22–2522 / 20–23
Night °C8 / 6–109 / 7–1111 / 9–1314 / 12–1617 / 14–1818 / 15–1918 / 14–1917 / 14–1916 / 14–1814 / 12–1611 / 9–128 / 7–11
Rain mm17 / 13–2611 / 8–139 / 4–1124 / 11–3340 / 18–5956 / 37–8676 / 53–10355 / 41–9068 / 52–9833 / 23–4510 / 8–1411 / 6–16
DLI29 / 25–3035 / 30–3642 / 37–4446 / 41–4846 / 43–5043 / 41–4843 / 38–4642 / 39–4436 / 33–3933 / 31–3630 / 27–3227 / 24–29
RH %54 / 48–5952 / 45–5851 / 41–5752 / 42–5755 / 44–5957 / 49–6159 / 51–6358 / 52–6360 / 54–6458 / 51–6355 / 48–5955 / 48–58

Each figure is the median across the 28 grid cells holding the 32 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 1385:1607 (20.725, -99.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -5.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 1.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.2 °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 28 distinct grid cells holding the 32 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1385:1607 (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 20.50_-99.375, lapse-corrected -76 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1909 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.
NativeMexico Northeast
Kew's description“succulent subshrub” · “desert or dry shrubland”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker20.701, -99.559 · in the densest population, 153 records (60% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 257 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 154 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 234 km away. 225 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 257 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanusAriocarpus kotschoubeyanusAriocarpus kotschoubeyanusAriocarpus kotschoubeyanusAriocarpus kotschoubeyanusAriocarpus kotschoubeyanusAriocarpus kotschoubeyanusAriocarpus kotschoubeyanus

Photographs: (c) P Gonzalez Zamora, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Aurélien Rovero, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Alejandro Gómez Maya, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) amantedarmanin, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist 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 Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Evolutionary history of the flora of Mexico: Dry forests cradles and museums of endemism
Victoria Sosa, José Arturo De‐Nova, Marilyn Vásquez‐Cruz (2018) · Journal of Systematics and Evolution
The conservation physiology toolbox: status and opportunities
Christine L. Madliger, Oliver P. Love, Kevin R. Hultine, Steven J. Cooke (2018) · Conservation Physiology
Pitaya, an Attractive Alternative Crop for Mediterranean Region
Alice Trivellini, M. Lucchesini, A. Ferrante, Daniele Massa (2020) · Agronomy
Tissue culture of ornamental cacti
Eugenio Pérez‐Molphe‐Balch, María del Socorro Santos-Díaz, Rafael Ramírez-Malagón, Neftalí Ochoa‐Alejo (2015) · Scientia Agricola
Seeds photoblastism and its relationship with some plant traits in 136 cacti taxa
Joel Flores, Enrique Jurado, Leonardo Chapa‐Vargas, Aldo Ceroni Stuva (2010) · Environmental and Experimental Botany
Pereskia aculeata: A plant food with antinociceptive activity
Nícolas de Castro Campos Pinto, Ana Paula do Nascimento Duque, Natália Ramos Pacheco, Renata de Freitas Mendes (2015) · Pharmaceutical Biology
El hábito y la forma de crecimiento en la tribu Cacteae (Cactaceae, Cactoideae)
Monserrat Vázquez-Sánchez, Teresa Terrazas, Salvador Arias (2012) · Botanical Sciences
Micropropagation of Opuntia and Other Cacti Species Through Axillary Shoot Proliferation: A Comprehensive Review
Sarah Bouzroud, Ezzouhra El Maaiden, Mansour Sobeh, Krishna Prasad Devkota (2022) · Frontiers in Plant Science
Organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis in Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus (Lem.) K. Schum. (Cactaceae), an endemic and endangered Mexican species
Katja G. Moebius-Goldammer, Martín Mata‐Rosas, Víctor Manuel Chávez-Ávila (2003) · In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Plant
Influence of Abscisic Acid and Sucrose on Somatic Embryogenesis in Cactus Copiapoa tenuissima Ritt. forma mostruosa
Justyna Lema-Rumińska, K. Goncerzewicz, Mowobi Gbolaha Gabriel (2013) · The Scientific World JOURNAL
Exploring the potential application of coconut water in healthcare and biotechnology: a review
Zhihua Mu, Binh-Minh Tran, Hang Xu, Zhuang Yang (2024) · Beverage Plant Research
Relación de algunas plantas y hongos mexicanos raros, amenazados o en peligro de extinción y sugerencias para su conservación
Andrew P. Vovides, Victor Luna, Guadalupe Vaca‐Medina (1997) · Acta Botanica Mexicana

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 Ariocarpus 6 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 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)
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 14 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.