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Boehmeria nivea; photograph (c) ITÔ, Hiroki, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) ITÔ, Hiroki, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-22

Boehmeria nivea (L.) Gaudich.

China-grass; Chinese grass; Ramie; Ramie Chinese grass

Urticaceae · China South-Central, Hainan +18

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Boehmeria nivea, photograph (c) ITÔ, Hiroki, some rights reserved (CC BY)Boehmeria nivea, photograph (c) WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁, some rights reserved (CC BY)Boehmeria nivea, photograph (c) WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁, some rights reserved (CC BY)Boehmeria nivea, photograph (c) WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁, some rights reserved (CC BY)Boehmeria nivea, photograph (c) 如此甚好, some rights reserved (CC BY)Boehmeria nivea, photograph (c) 如此甚好, some rights reserved (CC BY) 53 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
6.8°C
Record low 0.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,350mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
17–35DLI
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 April to September, 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

Boehmeria nivea, commonly known as ramie, Chinese grass or Chinese silk plant, is a monoecious shrub or subshrub in the family Urticaceae commonly found in China. It is native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the eastern Himalaya, and east and southeastern Asia. It grows to 2 metres tall, with alternately-arranged leaves 7–15 cm long and 6–12 cm broad, oval-acuminate with a serrated margin. Boehmeria nivea has been cultivated in China and elsewhere in southeast Asia for thousands of years, as the source of the fibre crop ramie. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Boehmeria nivea", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,688 mm of 2,216 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.3 °C against a yearly mean of 20.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Rain

2,216 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,688 mm of it April to September. Wettest month June at 337 mm, driest month December at 51 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,414 mm to 3,779 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,350 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,216 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: 17 to 35 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 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 6.8 °C, the absolute minimum 0.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 27.5 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 10.1 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -1.7 °C to 13.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.5 °C in July and August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 6.8 °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: 61 to 67% 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 +535 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.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Boehmeria nivea through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 10.1 °C; 2,216 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°frost27.5° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER0.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 17–35RH 61–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 496 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 °C16 / 5–2017 / 6–2120 / 10–2323 / 15–2625 / 19–2827 / 22–2929 / 25–3129 / 26–3027 / 24–2924 / 19–2721 / 13–2417 / 8–21
Night °C10 / -2–1411 / -1–1513 / 3–1716 / 8–2019 / 13–2322 / 17–2523 / 20–2624 / 20–2622 / 17–2519 / 12–2215 / 6–1911 / 1–15
Rain mm62 / 28–178102 / 45–228144 / 61–222168 / 86–242268 / 117–387337 / 194–511308 / 184–496322 / 175–543285 / 144–52599 / 52–38270 / 36–26351 / 25–186
DLI17 / 14–2321 / 16–2627 / 21–3131 / 27–3533 / 29–3733 / 29–3535 / 31–3833 / 30–3529 / 26–3125 / 22–2919 / 16–2417 / 14–22
RH %62 / 55–6863 / 56–6963 / 57–6964 / 58–7065 / 61–7066 / 63–7166 / 63–7267 / 64–7065 / 62–6963 / 58–6961 / 56–6861 / 55–67
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 496 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (895 records in those cells; 6 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are 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 1313:6018 (24.325, 120.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 0.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 6.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 27.5 °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 496 distinct grid cells holding 895 of the 903 in-range records (6 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1313:6018 (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 24.50_120.625, lapse-corrected +535 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 783 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.
NativeChina South-Central, Hainan, China North-Central, China Southeast, Japan, Korea, Kazan-retto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, Nepal, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Cook Is. · introduced: Congo, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, Transcaucasus, India, West Himalaya, Jawa, Malaya, Sumatera, Norfolk Is., Queensland, Fiji, Society Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Hawaii, California, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Virginia, District of Columbia, Mexico Southwest, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Colombia, Brazil South, Paraguay · 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 marker24.628, 121.007 · in the densest population, 589 records (40% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub or shrub” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1490 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 895 of them in the land cells it reads, of 903 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 584 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2134 km away. 76 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 587 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 1490 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Boehmeria nivea, photograph 1did not loadBoehmeria nivea, photograph 2did not loadBoehmeria nivea, photograph 3did not loadBoehmeria nivea, photograph 4did not loadBoehmeria nivea, photograph 5did not loadBoehmeria nivea, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) ITÔ, Hiroki, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) 如此甚好, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

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

Youngia japonica Youngia japonica Oriental false hawksbeard Photo: CC BY, Milo CatonAsparagus cochinchinensis Asparagus cochinchinensis Chinese asparagus Photo: CC BY, Jaw-Jian LaLophatherum gracile Lophatherum gracile Common lophatherum Photo: CC BY, Zheng-An WangCausonis japonica Causonis japonica Vitaceae Photo: CC BY, chiuluanSelaginella uncinata Selaginella uncinata Blue spikemoss Photo: CC BY, Hilda ChanSelaginella moellendorffii Selaginella moellendorffii Gemmiferous Spikemoss Photo: CC BY, portioid

Other Boehmeria 12 in the reference

Boehmeria caudata Boehmeria caudata Urticaceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel Duarte Boehmeria celtidifolia Urticaceae Boehmeria cylindrica Boehmeria cylindrica Small-spike false nettle Photo: CC0, author not statedBoehmeria densiflora Boehmeria densiflora Dense-flowered False Nettle Photo: CC0, author not statedBoehmeria excelsa Boehmeria excelsa Urticaceae Photo: CC BY, Flavien SaboureauBoehmeria holosericea Boehmeria holosericea Seashore falsenettle Photo: CC BY, pavlaki1968Boehmeria japonica Boehmeria japonica Large-leaf falsenettle Photo: CC BY, 曾昱承 Yu-Cheng ZengBoehmeria pilosiuscula Boehmeria pilosiuscula Urticaceae Photo: CC BY, Yu-Huang WangBoehmeria sieboldiana Boehmeria sieboldiana Siebold’s falsenettle Photo: CC BY, 黃美滿Boehmeria splitgerbera Boehmeria splitgerbera Urticaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedBoehmeria virgata Boehmeria virgata Native ramie Photo: CC BY, Bryce Watts-ParkerBoehmeria zollingeriana Boehmeria zollingeriana Zollinger's False Nettle Photo: CC BY, 謝麗霦

Names & registers

Also known as Boehmeria candicans; Boehmeria compacta; Boehmeria frutescens var. concolor; Boehmeria frutescens var. viridula; Boehmeria juncea and 31 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Kew accepts as species of their own Callicarpa candicans: 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)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Urticaceae
Described by
(L.) Gaudich.
Native to
China South-Central, Hainan, China North-Central +17
Wild records
1490 in range · 584 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; 44 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (29 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 6 at a herbarium, 9 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 24.50_120.625, lapse-corrected +535 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Boehmeria nivea (L.) Gaudich. (the item's: IPNI 850690-1, POWO 55676-3)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.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 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media 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 113 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…