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Begonia carolineifolia; photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAKrzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Begonia carolineifolia Regel

Begoniaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf +4 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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Begonia carolineifolia, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBegonia carolineifolia, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBegonia carolineifolia, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBegonia carolineifolia, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBegonia carolineifolia, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBegonia carolineifolia, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 8 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
7.2°C
Record low -1.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,141mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–41DLI
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
Wet summers: the rain comes June to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Begonia carolineifolia, the palm leaf begonia, palmate begonia or hand begonia, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Begonia native to central and southern Mexico and northern Central America. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Begonia carolineifolia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Begonia

Begonia is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Begoniaceae. The genus contains more than 2,000 different plant species, distributed primarily across tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Central and South America, with Africa considered the center of origin. Some species are commonly grown indoors as ornamental houseplants in cooler climates, or cultivated outside in summertime for their bright colorful flowers, which have petals but no sepals.

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

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Begonia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “epiphytic subshrub”, “seasonally dry tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,491 mm of 1,969 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 22.4 °C against a yearly mean of 20.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Rain

1,969 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,491 mm of it June to October. Wettest month June at 339 mm, driest months (2 at 47 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,907 mm to 2,298 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,141 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,969 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: 27 to 41 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 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 7.2 °C, the absolute minimum -1.5 °C, 2 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 12.6 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 11.8 °C to 15.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.3 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 7.2 °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: 64 to 68% 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 -203 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.

Group. Listed under the genus Begonia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “epiphytic subshrub”, “seasonally dry tropical”. 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

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Begonia carolineifolia through the yearWarmest months April and May, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 12.6 °C; 1,969 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.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost37.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-1.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 27–41RH 64–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 7 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 °C22 / 21–2324 / 23–2526 / 25–2627 / 26–2827 / 27–2926 / 25–2826 / 25–2726 / 25–2725 / 25–2724 / 24–2623 / 22–2422 / 21–23
Night °C13 / 12–1613 / 12–1614 / 14–1716 / 15–1918 / 17–2118 / 18–2117 / 17–2018 / 17–2018 / 17–2117 / 16–2015 / 14–1813 / 13–17
Rain mm51 / 48–11747 / 45–8847 / 46–6468 / 66–71128 / 122–133339 / 285–378329 / 298–389310 / 283–352324 / 290–370189 / 168–23380 / 75–16757 / 54–141
DLI28 / 24–2832 / 29–3337 / 36–3841 / 40–4141 / 40–4138 / 38–3940 / 38–4140 / 38–4034 / 33–3532 / 28–3229 / 25–2927 / 23–27
RH %67 / 67–6966 / 65–6864 / 64–6564 / 63–6565 / 63–6666 / 63–6864 / 60–6764 / 60–6767 / 63–6968 / 66–7068 / 67–7067 / 67–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 7 grid cells holding the 12 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 1423:1659 (18.825, -97.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.6 °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 7 distinct grid cells holding 12 of the 12 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1423:1659 (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 19.00_-96.875, lapse-corrected -203 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 970 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.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Guatemala, Honduras · 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 marker18.862, -97.003 · in the densest population, 12 records (92% of those in range)
Kew's description“epiphytic subshrub” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 13 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 12 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 2 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 6 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. 1 in-range record is placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stays 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 13 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Begonia carolineifolia, photograph 1did not loadBegonia carolineifolia, photograph 2did not loadBegonia carolineifolia, photograph 3did not loadBegonia carolineifolia, photograph 4did not loadBegonia carolineifolia, photograph 5did not loadBegonia carolineifolia, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (6).

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

Peperomia berlandieri Peperomia berlandieri Piperaceae Photo: CC BY, Cody HinchliffEpidendrum melistagum Epidendrum melistagum Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Tenoch Cuauhtémoc PerezScaphyglottis fasciculata Scaphyglottis fasciculata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Matteo CassellaChamaedorea sartorii Chamaedorea sartorii Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, Peter QuakenbushInga inicuil Inga inicuil Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Skjold SøndergaardMaxillaria densa Maxillaria densa Crowded Tiger Orchid Photo: CC BY, Victor De la Cruz

Other Begonia 279 in the reference

Begonia abdullahpieei Begoniaceae Begonia acerifolia Begonia acerifolia Maple-leaved begonia Photo: CC BY, Yuri SofronovBegonia acetosa Begonia acetosa Ruby begonia Photo: CC0, Daderot Begonia acetosella Begoniaceae Begonia acida Begonia acida Begoniaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Michael WolfBegonia aconitifolia Begonia aconitifolia Aconite Leaved Begonia Photo: CC BY-SA, rubens curveloBegonia acutifolia Begonia acutifolia Begoniaceae Photo: CC BY, Cliff from I now live in Arlington, VA… Begonia albomaculata Begoniaceae Begonia × albopicta Begoniaceae Begonia alice-clarkiae Begoniaceae Begonia almedana Begoniaceae Begonia amphioxus Begoniaceae all 280 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Begonia rotata; Gireoudia carolineifolia; Gireoudia rotata. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Begoniaceae
Described by
Regel
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest +3
Wild records
13 in range · 2 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 19.00_-96.875, lapse-corrected -203 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 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 nothing to reportasked 2026-10-21
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 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 3 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…