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Brunfelsia australis; photograph (c) David F. Belmonte, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) David F. Belmonte, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2024-10-04

Brunfelsia australis Benth.

Paraguay jasmine; Morning-noon-and-night; Southern raintree

Solanaceae · Brazil South, Argentina Northeast +2

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Brunfelsia australis, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedBrunfelsia australis, photograph (c) Thibaud Aronson, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Brunfelsia australis, photograph (c) Thibaud Aronson, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Brunfelsia australis, photograph (c) Thibaud Aronson, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Brunfelsia australis, photograph (c) Roderick Cameron, some rights reserved (CC BY)Brunfelsia australis, photograph (c) Andrea Gantzer, some rights reserved (CC BY) 39 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
1.1°C
Record low -3.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Jan at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,497mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–44DLI
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 October (October to April at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

About the genus · Brunfelsia

Brunfelsia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to subfamily Petunioideae of the nightshade family Solanaceae. The 50 or so species have been grouped into the three sections: Brunfelsia, Franciscea and Guianenses, which differ significantly in both distribution and characteristics, although molecular data have revealed that only two sections are natural (monophyletic), namely the Caribbean section Brunfelsia and a common section for all South American species. Linnaeus named the genus for the early German herbalist Otto Brunfels (1488–1534).

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,135 mm of 1,515 mm) falls in October to April, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.0 °C against a yearly mean of 20.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to October.

Rain

1,515 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,135 mm of it October to April. Wettest month April at 189 mm, driest month August at 57 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,179 mm to 1,951 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,497 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,515 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 44 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 46).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 1.1 °C, the absolute minimum -3.4 °C, 72 frost nights in 44 years, 1.6 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.9 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 11.0 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 7.8 °C to 12.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.3 °C in January (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 1.1 °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: 58 to 63% 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 -8 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, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Brunfelsia australis through the yearWarmest month January, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 11.0 °C; 1,515 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, southern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°frost39.9° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-3.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 16–44RH 58–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 51 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 °C31 / 28–3230 / 27–3129 / 26–3026 / 22–2722 / 19–2320 / 16–2120 / 16–2122 / 18–2423 / 19–2526 / 22–2828 / 24–2930 / 27–31
Night °C22 / 19–2322 / 19–2221 / 17–2117 / 14–1914 / 11–1512 / 9–1411 / 8–1312 / 9–1414 / 10–1516 / 13–1818 / 15–2021 / 17–22
Rain mm160 / 125–179156 / 130–182159 / 127–175189 / 124–205104 / 72–16772 / 52–14258 / 33–13157 / 33–11089 / 63–172149 / 121–236176 / 122–190146 / 114–182
DLI43 / 40–4539 / 37–3933 / 32–3425 / 24–2620 / 18–2116 / 14–1819 / 16–2024 / 21–2529 / 28–3036 / 34–3641 / 39–4344 / 41–46
RH %58 / 57–6360 / 59–6461 / 60–6362 / 61–6362 / 61–6463 / 62–6561 / 60–6459 / 58–6159 / 57–6159 / 58–6258 / 57–6158 / 56–61
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 51 grid cells holding the 78 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 2370:2456 (-28.525, -57.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 1.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.9 °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 51 distinct grid cells holding 78 of the 78 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2370:2456 (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 -28.50_-56.875, lapse-corrected -8 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 61 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.
NativeBrazil South, Argentina Northeast, Paraguay, Uruguay · 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 marker-27.583, -58.74 · in the densest population, 72 records (38% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 191 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 78 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 137 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 18 km away. 35 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 113 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 191 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Brunfelsia australis, photograph 1did not loadBrunfelsia australis, photograph 2did not loadBrunfelsia australis, photograph 3did not loadBrunfelsia australis, photograph 4did not loadBrunfelsia australis, photograph 5did not loadBrunfelsia australis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Thibaud Aronson, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (3); (c) Roderick Cameron, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Andrea Gantzer, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Xylosma venosa Xylosma venosa Salicaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedGlandularia aristigera Glandularia aristigera Verbenaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Paul venterEugenia myrcianthes Eugenia myrcianthes Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY, Pablo H CapovillaPaullinia elegans Paullinia elegans Sapindaceae Photo: CC BY, Pablo H CapovillaGleditsia amorphoides Gleditsia amorphoides Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Laura Veronica BianchiUrera aurantiaca Urera aurantiaca Urticaceae Photo: CC BY, Nico Yak

Other Brunfelsia 11 in the reference

Brunfelsia americana Brunfelsia americana Lady of the night Photo: CC BY, Guillaume DelaitreBrunfelsia brasiliensis Brunfelsia brasiliensis Solanaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, *Spatz* at de.wikipediaBrunfelsia densifolia Brunfelsia densifolia Serpentine Hill raintree Photo: CC BY, Giovanny VargasBrunfelsia grandiflora Brunfelsia grandiflora Largeflower brunfelsia Photo: CC BY, Eduardo Chacón MadrigalBrunfelsia lactea Brunfelsia lactea Vega blanca Photo: CC0, author not statedBrunfelsia latifolia Brunfelsia latifolia Solanaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, IxitixelBrunfelsia nitida Brunfelsia nitida Cuban raintree Photo: CC BY, Scott Zona from Miami, Florida, USABrunfelsia pauciflora Brunfelsia pauciflora Brazil raintree Photo: CC BY, Ben CostamagnaBrunfelsia portoricensis Brunfelsia portoricensis Puerto Rico raintree Photo: CC BY, Cricket RaspetBrunfelsia undulata Brunfelsia undulata Jamaican raintree Photo: CC BY-SA, Bernard LoisonBrunfelsia uniflora Brunfelsia uniflora Manaca Photo: CC BY, Diogo Luiz

Names & registers

Also known as Brunfelsia hopeana var. australis; Brunfelsia paraguayensis; Brunfelsia uniflora f. intermedia; Brunfelsia uniflora f. obovatifolia; Franciscea australis and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Solanaceae
Described by
Benth.
Native to
Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Paraguay +1
Wild records
191 in range · 137 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; 6 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (6 at a botanic garden or arboretum; 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 -28.50_-56.875, lapse-corrected -8 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 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 53 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…