Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.

Astilbe glaberrima Nakai

Saxifragaceae · Japan · listed by its genus as a temperate garden plant

Photographs not checked iNaturalist was skipped (not asked) when this page was built. Not asked, or not answered, is not "none": nothing here claims there is none. Why the site says it this way.
Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Coldest month, mean nightly low
9.3°C
Jan at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (sea cell) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
5,264mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
13–38DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  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
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 3 records in 3 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Astilbe glaberrima, called the florist's spiraea and smooth rock astilbe, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Astilbe, native to Yakushima Island, Japan. Some authorities have it as a subspecies of Astilbe japonica, Astilbe japonica subsp. glaberrima. Its dwarf variety Astilbe glaberrima var. saxatilis has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Astilbe glaberrima", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Astilbe

Astilbe is a genus of 18 species of rhizomatous flowering plants within the family Saxifragaceae, native to mountain ravines and woodlands in Asia and North America. Some species are known by the common names false goat's beard and false spirea.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Astilbe", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a temperate garden plant, listed under the genus Astilbe in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “perennial”, “temperate”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (4,031 mm of 5,283 mm) takes 8 months, March to July and September to November. Mean temperature moves 14.9 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to January and March to May.

Rain

5,283 mm in the median year at the habitat, 4,031 mm of it March to July and September to November. Wettest month June at 921 mm, driest month December at 298 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 5,233 mm to 5,424 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 5,264 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 5,283 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: 13 to 38 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 11, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 9.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 8.7 °C to 11.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.3 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 9.3 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, January, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell that is mostly sea and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 70% 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. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

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

Group. Listed under the genus Astilbe in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “perennial”, “temperate”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 3 records in 3 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Astilbe glaberrima through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 9.3 °C; 5,283 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.5°10°15°20°25°30°°C · day and nightcold quarter02004006008001000mm rainDLI 13–38RH 61–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 3 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C12 / 12–1413 / 12–1415 / 14–1618 / 17–1921 / 20–2223 / 23–2426 / 26–2726 / 26–2725 / 24–2622 / 21–2318 / 18–2014 / 14–16
Night °C9 / 9–1110 / 9–1112 / 12–1316 / 15–1719 / 19–2022 / 21–2325 / 24–2625 / 24–2623 / 23–2520 / 19–2116 / 15–1712 / 11–13
Rain mm312 / 300–336319 / 312–339513 / 511–528506 / 500–529527 / 517–537921 / 900–941380 / 363–398323 / 314–325474 / 468–490350 / 345–367360 / 359–362298 / 291–318
DLI13 / 11–1517 / 15–1922 / 21–2429 / 28–3133 / 32–3330 / 29–3138 / 36–3835 / 35–3729 / 28–3122 / 21–2416 / 14–1813 / 11–15
RH %61 / 56–6262 / 57–6363 / 59–6362 / 60–6363 / 63–6570 / 69–7070 / 70–7169 / 67–7166 / 66–6864 / 61–6462 / 58–6261 / 56–62

The daily extremes were read at a NASA POWER cell that is 28% land: neither it nor the next candidates whose coldest month's mean nightly low is within 2 °C of the median across cells sit in a POWER cell that is mostly land, and the rule reads a cold floor only from a cell that is mostly land, so none is read for this species. Nor is the coldest month's mean nightly low taken as one: it is a mean of a month's lows, not its coldest night. What that cell gave over 44 years: absolute minimum 2.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 6.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 27.8 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 3 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (3 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), 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 1192:6212 (30.375, 130.625). 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 3 distinct grid cells holding 3 of the 4 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1192:6212 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells, though its NASA POWER cell is only 28% land and none of the 1 next candidates within 2 °C of the median was mostly land); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 30.50_130.625, lapse-corrected +339 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 376 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.
NativeJapan · 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 marker30.352, 130.579 · in the densest population, 8 records (100% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 8 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 3 of them in the land cells it reads, of 4 placed to within 10 km, all openly licensed and shown on the map. Under a dozen records behind the map and the climate. 4 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 of the 8 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Not checked. iNaturalist was skipped (not asked) when this page was built; GBIF's observation records with coordinates hold none. Not a statement that none exist.

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

Gentiana yakushimensis Gentianaceae Acer morifolium Acer morifolium Yuku Maple Photo: CC BY, Daniel J. LaytonDendrobium officinale Dendrobium officinale Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, 大澤風季 ohsawa_FukiCarex oshimensis Carex oshimensis Evergold Sedge Photo: CC BY, 岸本年郎Euonymus centidens Euonymus centidens Celastraceae Photo: CC BY, 賴碧珠Microtropis japonica Microtropis japonica Celastraceae Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Astilbe 11 in the reference

Astilbe biternata Astilbe biternata Appalachian false goat's-beard Photo: CC BY, Shelby Lyn Sanders Astilbe chinensis Saxifragaceae Astilbe grandis Astilbe grandis Korean astilbe Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, KenraizAstilbe japonica Astilbe japonica False buck's-beard Photo: CC BY-SA, Katryna RokickiAstilbe longicarpa Astilbe longicarpa Chinese Astilbe Photo: CC0, 葉子Astilbe macroflora Astilbe macroflora Largeleaf Astilbe Photo: CC BY, crothfelsAstilbe microphylla Astilbe microphylla Saxifragaceae Photo: CC BY, WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁Astilbe rivularis Astilbe rivularis Tall False-buck's-beard Photo: CC0, author not statedAstilbe rubra Astilbe rubra Tall False-buck's-beard Photo: CC BY, Takaaki HattoriAstilbe simplicifolia Astilbe simplicifolia Entire-leaf false goat’s beard Photo: CC BY-SA, KENPEIAstilbe thunbergii Astilbe thunbergii Thunberg's astilbe Photo: CC BY, Marco Mussita

Names & registers

Also known as Astilbe glaberrima subsp. terrestris; Astilbe japonica subsp. glaberrima; Astilbe japonica var. terrestris; Astilbe thunbergii var. terrestris. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipedia

The record

Family
Saxifragaceae
Described by
Nakai
Native to
Japan
Wild records
8 in range · 8 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 30.50_130.625, lapse-corrected +339 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: NASA POWER's cell is mostly sea (28% land), so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media nothing to reportasked 2026-10-21
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 1 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…