Species
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Chaenomeles speciosa (Sweet) Nakai

Chinese Quince, Chinese Quince (EN), Chinese-quince, Chinesische Zierquitte (DE)

Climate known 46 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Chaenomeles speciosa, the flowering quince, Chinese quince or Japanese quince, is a thorny deciduous or semi-evergreen shrub native to eastern Asia. It is taller than another commonly cultivated species, C. japonica, usually growing to about 2 m. The flowers are usually red, but may be pink, white or green. The fruit is a fragrant, hard pome that resembles a quince.

Text from Wikipedia, “Chaenomeles speciosa”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Chaenomeles

Chaenomeles is a genus of four species of deciduous spiny shrubs, usually 1–3 m tall, in the family Rosaceae. They are native to Eastern Asia. These plants are related to the quince and the Chinese quince, differing in the serrated leaves that lack fuzz, and in the flowers, borne in clusters, having deciduous sepals and styles that are connate at the base.

Text from Wikipedia, “Chaenomeles”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Rosaceae
Described by
(Sweet) Nakai
Native to
China South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast +2
Wild records
105 in range· 49 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Jul, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1194mm/yr
10 wet months · peak Jun 205 mm (CHELSA)
Light
17–33DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1194 mm a year, wettest June at 205 mm, driest December at 19 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 33 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -4.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Chaenomeles alba Carrière; Chaenomeles alba subsp. grandiflora Carrière; Chaenomeles angustifolia Koidz.; Chaenomeles angustifolia var. eburnea (Carrière) Nakai; Chaenomeles cardinalis (Carrière) Nakai and 30 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (836 mm of 1194 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.7 °C against a yearly mean of 16.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1194 mm a year, wettest June at 205 mm, driest December at 19 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1194 mm a year at the habitat, 836 mm of it May to September. Wettest month June at 205 mm, driest December at 19 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 657 mm to 1925 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 33 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 33 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor -4.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -4.5 °C, the absolute minimum -9.7 °C, about 33 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 0.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells -7.4 °C to 6.4 °C), warmest day 29.4 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 8 °C in Jan to 29 °C in Jul; mean night from 1 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1194 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 101 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -9.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost31.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)-9.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 17–33RH 59–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 101 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C8 / 3–1710 / 6–1915 / 10–2221 / 15–2525 / 20–2727 / 21–3029 / 21–3329 / 21–3225 / 19–2821 / 16–2416 / 10–1911 / 4–17
Night °C1 / -7–63 / -5–86 / -1–1111 / 5–1516 / 10–1920 / 13–2222 / 14–2521 / 14–2518 / 12–2114 / 7–168 / -0–113 / -5–7
Rain mm20 / 7–8730 / 8–11655 / 17–174104 / 24–229138 / 59–250205 / 80–314195 / 141–325177 / 125–281121 / 71–19286 / 37–12044 / 15–8719 / 5–51
DLI17 / 13–2621 / 15–3125 / 18–3731 / 23–4033 / 27–3930 / 27–3833 / 28–3631 / 28–3427 / 23–2923 / 15–2518 / 14–2417 / 13–23
RH %60 / 53–6460 / 51–6661 / 50–6561 / 51–6561 / 54–6564 / 56–6964 / 59–7064 / 60–6963 / 59–6961 / 57–6660 / 56–6559 / 54–63

Each figure is the median across the 101 grid cells holding the 104 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1266:5726 (26.675, 106.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -9.7 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 101 distinct grid cells holding the 104 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1266:5726 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 26.50_106.250, lapse-corrected -47 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1263 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast, Tibet, Xinjiang· introduced: Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Romania, Belarus, Baltic States, Ukraine, Japan, Korea, East Himalaya, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, District of Columbia, Mexico Southeast
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker26.083, 103.167 · in the densest population, 44 records (42% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 105 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 49 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 154 km away. 1367 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 1 in-range record is placed to worse than 10 km and stays on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 105 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Chaenomeles speciosaChaenomeles speciosaChaenomeles speciosaChaenomeles speciosaChaenomeles speciosaChaenomeles speciosaChaenomeles speciosaChaenomeles speciosa

Photographs: (c) Gavin Slater, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Yoshihiro Tokue, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) jrsweet, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Chaenomeles speciosa, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Novel polysaccharide from Chaenomeles speciosa seeds: Structural characterization, α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity evaluation
Yejun Deng, Lixin Huang, Caihong Zhang, Pujun Xie (2020) · International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Influenza Properties of Components from Chaenomeles speciosa
Li Zhang, Yong‐Xian Cheng, Ai‐Lin Liu, Haidi Wang (2010) · Molecules
Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oils of Chaenomeles speciosa from China
Xie Xianfei, Xiaoqiang Cai, Zhu Shunying, Zou Guolin (2006) · Food Chemistry
Biological screening of 100 plant extracts for cosmetic use (I): inhibitory activities of tyrosinase and DOPA auto-oxidation
K.T. Lee, B.J. KIM, J.H. Kim, Moon Young Heo (1997) · International Journal of Cosmetic Science
Biological screening of 100 plant extracts for cosmetic use (I): inhibitory activities of tyrosinase and DOPA auto‐oxidation
Kyong Lee, B.J. KIM, Jong Ho Kim, Moon Young Heo (1997) · International Journal of Cosmetic Science
Antitumor and immunomodulatory activities of a water-soluble polysaccharide from Chaenomeles speciosa
Xianfei Xie, Guolin Zou, Chenghai Li (2015) · Carbohydrate Polymers
Chaenomeles speciosa: A review of chemistry and pharmacology
Shuya Zhang, LI-YA HAN, Hong Zhang, Hailiang Xin (2013) · Biomedical Reports
Rapid classification of Chinese quince (Chaenomeles speciosa Nakai) fruit provenance by near-infrared spectroscopy and multivariate calibration
Wenhao Shao, Yanjie Li, Songfeng Diao, Jingmin Jiang (2016) · Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry
Bioactivity Ingredients of Chaenomeles speciosa against Microbes: Characterization by LC-MS and Activity Evaluation
Zhao‐Jie Wang, Danni Jin, Ying Zhou, Xu‐Yan Sang (2021) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Inhibition of Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin-induced diarrhea by Chaenomeles speciosa
Jaw‐Chyun Chen, Yuan‐Shiun Chang, Shih‐Lu Wu, De‐Cheng Chao (2007) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Chaenomeles 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 143 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.