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Chaetogastra grossa; photograph GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYGERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Chaetogastra grossa (L.f.) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang.

Carmine Princess Flower; Red Princess Flower

Melastomataceae · Venezuela, Colombia +1

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Chaetogastra grossa (L.f.) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (L.fil.) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang.

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Chaetogastra grossa, photograph GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFChaetogastra grossa, photograph GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFChaetogastra grossa, photograph Nolan Exe, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFChaetogastra grossa, photograph Laia Gaitán-Botero, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFChaetogastra grossa, photograph Laia Gaitán-Botero, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFChaetogastra grossa, photograph GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF 24 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
3.3°C
Record low 0.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
16°C
Feb, Mar and Sep at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,401mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–32DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Chaetogastra grossa, synonym Tibouchina grossa, is a species in the Melastomataceae family that is native to Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. It is found between 2400 and 3800 meters in elevation. Also called "red princess flower" or "carmine princess flower" to differentiate it from "princess flower" which has purple blooms.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Chaetogastra grossa", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,830 mm of 2,410 mm) takes 8 months, March to July and September to November. Mean temperature moves 1.0 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,410 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,830 mm of it March to July and September to November. Wettest month October at 285 mm, driest month January at 114 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,375 mm to 3,874 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,401 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,410 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: 25 to 32 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 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 37).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 3.3 °C, the absolute minimum 0.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 17.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 6.3 °C in August (across the grid cells of the range 3.8 °C to 9.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 15.6 °C in February, March and September (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 3.3 °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: 65 to 69% 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 +484 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 Chaetogastra grossa through the yearWarmest months February, March and September, mean daily high 16 °C; coldest month August, mean nightly low 6.3 °C; 2,410 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.-5°0°5°10°15°20°frost17.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER0.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 25–32RH 65–69%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 210 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 °C15 / 12–1816 / 13–1916 / 13–1815 / 13–1815 / 12–1814 / 12–1714 / 12–1815 / 12–1816 / 12–1915 / 12–1815 / 12–1715 / 12–18
Night °C7 / 4–97 / 5–107 / 5–108 / 5–108 / 5–107 / 5–106 / 4–96 / 4–107 / 4–107 / 5–107 / 5–107 / 5–10
Rain mm114 / 39–207140 / 64–232194 / 101–315268 / 158–421279 / 157–441202 / 96–317170 / 81–299163 / 68–277182 / 82–353285 / 144–449250 / 139–398163 / 67–272
DLI31 / 29–3432 / 29–3431 / 28–3427 / 24–3125 / 22–3125 / 22–3228 / 24–3431 / 27–3632 / 27–3729 / 25–3327 / 23–3029 / 26–32
RH %66 / 62–7167 / 62–7168 / 64–7169 / 65–7369 / 65–7368 / 63–7467 / 61–7366 / 60–7165 / 61–7067 / 63–7168 / 66–7267 / 63–71
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 210 grid cells holding the 526 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 1778:2054 (1.075, -77.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 0.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 3.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 17.7 °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 210 distinct grid cells holding 526 of the 526 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1778:2054 (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 1.00_-77.500, lapse-corrected +484 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 3037 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.
NativeVenezuela, Colombia, Ecuador · 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 marker4.827, -74.009 · in the densest population, 533 records (75% of those in range)
Kew's description“wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 713 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 526 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 332 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 6 km away. 3 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 187 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 713 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Chaetogastra grossa, photograph 1did not loadChaetogastra grossa, photograph 2did not loadChaetogastra grossa, photograph 3did not loadChaetogastra grossa, photograph 4did not loadChaetogastra grossa, photograph 5did not loadChaetogastra grossa, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (3); Nolan Exe, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; Laia Gaitán-Botero, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (2).

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

Ageratina tinifolia Ageratina tinifolia Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Carlos TorrenteGravendeelia chamaelepanthes Gravendeelia chamaelepanthes Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel MesaMyrsine dependens Myrsine dependens Primulaceae Photo: CC BY, Carlos TorrenteFuchsia petiolaris Fuchsia petiolaris Onagraceae Photo: CC0, author not statedGrammitis moniliformis Grammitis moniliformis Polypodiaceae Photo: CC BY, Dairo EscobarGunnera pilosa Gunnera pilosa Gunneraceae Photo: CC BY-SA, vasquez carlos

Other Chaetogastra 4 in the reference

Chaetogastra laxa Chaetogastra laxa Melastomataceae Photo: CC BY, Dan VickersChaetogastra longifolia Chaetogastra longifolia Longleaf glorytree Photo: CC BY, Laurimar SepulvedaChaetogastra mollis Chaetogastra mollis Melastomataceae Photo: CC BY, Esteban PovedaChaetogastra paratropica Chaetogastra paratropica Melastomataceae Photo: CC BY, Ezequiel Vera

Names & registers

Also known as Chaetogastra lindeniana; Chaetogastra muricata; Chaetogastra reticulata; Melastoma grossum; Purpurella grossa and 6 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWikidataWikipedia

The record

Family
Melastomataceae
Described by
(L.f.) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang.
Native to
Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador
Wild records
713 in range · 332 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 2026-10-21GBIF's key 10776760 is Chaetogastra grossa (L.fil.) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang.; the page links Kew's Chaetogastra grossa (L.f.) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang., and the name is cited as Kew cites it
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 1.00_-77.500, lapse-corrected +484 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
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 86 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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