79 photographs › At a glance
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- Jun, shaded
- Jul, shaded
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- Sep, shaded
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Summary
Begonia gracilis is a species of flowering plant in the family Begoniaceae. It is a small herb widespread in the mountains of Mexico, from Chihuahua to Chiapas, often growing in protected locations in shaded areas.
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Begonia gracilis", 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 “tuberous geophyte”, “seasonally dry tropical”.
Seasons
The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (731 mm of 952 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 17.3 °C against a yearly mean of 15.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.
Rain
952 mm in the median year at the habitat, 731 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 214 mm, driest month December at 10 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 618 mm to 1,562 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 958 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 952 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: 30 to 47 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 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).
Warmth and air
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 2.0 °C, the absolute minimum -1.5 °C, 27 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 5.5 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 1.2 °C to 9.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 24.8 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 2.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).
Relative humidity at the habitat: 48 to 66% 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 +409 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 “tuberous geophyte”, “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
Mean daily high from 19 °C in Jan and Dec to 25 °C in May; mean nightly low from 6 °C in Jan, Feb and Dec to 12 °C in Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low, centred on the 3 months in a row that tie for it. 952 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added), the wettest month Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 678 habitat cells. Over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER) the absolute minimum was -1.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.3 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.
Figures by month
| Figure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 19 / 15–23 | 21 / 16–25 | 23 / 19–27 | 24 / 21–29 | 25 / 21–30 | 23 / 20–28 | 22 / 18–26 | 22 / 18–26 | 21 / 18–25 | 20 / 18–25 | 20 / 17–24 | 19 / 15–23 |
| Night °C | 6 / 1–10 | 6 / 2–11 | 8 / 3–12 | 9 / 6–14 | 11 / 8–16 | 12 / 9–17 | 12 / 9–16 | 12 / 9–16 | 12 / 9–16 | 10 / 7–15 | 8 / 4–12 | 6 / 2–11 |
| Rain mm | 19 / 11–47 | 15 / 10–34 | 12 / 6–26 | 21 / 5–43 | 56 / 17–97 | 159 / 87–265 | 214 / 116–321 | 193 / 110–301 | 165 / 102–287 | 70 / 43–138 | 18 / 11–40 | 10 / 6–48 |
| DLI | 32 / 26–34 | 38 / 31–39 | 44 / 38–45 | 47 / 42–48 | 45 / 41–51 | 39 / 35–44 | 37 / 33–40 | 37 / 33–40 | 33 / 30–36 | 33 / 29–35 | 32 / 27–34 | 30 / 24–32 |
| RH % | 52 / 48–59 | 51 / 47–58 | 48 / 44–56 | 49 / 43–57 | 53 / 44–61 | 62 / 54–67 | 64 / 60–69 | 64 / 60–69 | 66 / 60–70 | 61 / 54–66 | 56 / 50–62 | 54 / 49–60 |
How this section is made
Natural habitat
How this section is made
Photographs
Photographs: (c) fern Wildtruth, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Oscar C. González Martínez, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (3); (c) Guillermo Huerta Ramos, some rights reserved (CC BY).
Related
Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.
Castilleja tenuiflora Santa Catalina Indian paintbrush Photo: CC BY, Brynn Fricke
Commelina tuberosa Blue Spiderwort Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
Salvia reptans Cobalt Sage Photo: CC BY, Erick Vélez Sánchez
Iostephane heterophylla Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Carlos Martínez
Zea mexicana Poaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Cacum2
Baccharis heterophylla Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Erick Vélez SánchezOther Begonia 279 in the reference
Begonia acerifolia Maple-leaved begonia Photo: CC BY, Yuri Sofronov
Begonia acetosa Ruby begonia Photo: CC0, Daderot Begonia acetosella Begoniaceae 
Begonia acida Begoniaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Michael Wolf
Begonia aconitifolia Aconite Leaved Begonia Photo: CC BY-SA, rubens curvelo
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 bulbillifera; Begonia diversifiolia; Begonia diversifolia; Begonia gracilis var. annulata; Begonia gracilis var. depauperata and 9 more. (GBIF Backbone)
Kew accepts as species of their own Begonia dealbata: older names in GBIF's record of this species that Kew's World Checklist accepts as other species. (WCVP, RBG Kew, file of 2026-06-04)
The record
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 answeredasked 2026-10-21gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 67 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (11 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 55 at a herbarium, 1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)climate answeredasked 2026-10-21climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 19.50_-101.250, lapse-corrected +409 m at 6.5 °C/kmwikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21found by its label; its IPNI identifier 104777-1 is IPNI's record of Begonia gracilis Kunth, the same name; IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Begonia gracilis Kunth (the item's: IPNI 104777-1, POWO none)wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21inat.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 2026-10-22inat.photos.cultivated not askedgbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshotEvery 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 68 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.