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Chlorophytum orchidastrum; photograph Retama., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SARetama., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Chlorophytum orchidastrum Lindl.

Asparagaceae · Benin, Burkina +14 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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Chlorophytum orchidastrum, photograph Scott from USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsChlorophytum orchidastrum, photograph JuanitaV, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsChlorophytum orchidastrum, photograph Maja Dumat from Deutschland (Germany), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsChlorophytum orchidastrum, photograph Salicyna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsChlorophytum orchidastrum, photograph Salicyna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsChlorophytum orchidastrum, photograph Salicyna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
13.6°C
Record low 10.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
34°C
Feb and Mar at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,366mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–39DLI
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
A sharp rainy season, May to September (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 10 records in 10 grid cells. The records.

About the genus · Chlorophytum

Chlorophytum (,), colloquially referred to as the spider plants, is a genus of almost 200 species of evergreen perennial flowering plants in the Agavoideae within the family Asparagaceae. The plants are native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Australia, and Asia.

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

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Chlorophytum in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “perennial”, “seasonally dry tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,040 mm of 1,467 mm) falls in May to September. The temperature curve is flat, 3.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. 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

1,467 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,040 mm of it May to September. Wettest month August at 246 mm, driest month January at 7 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,080 mm to 1,770 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,366 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,467 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 39 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 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 13.6 °C, the absolute minimum 10.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 19.1 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 17.5 °C to 22.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 34.3 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.6 °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: 45 to 68% 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 +176 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 Chlorophytum in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “perennial”, “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

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 10 records in 10 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Chlorophytum orchidastrum through the yearWarmest months February and March, mean daily high 34 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 19.1 °C; 1,467 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°10°15°20°25°30°35°40°35.2° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER10.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 25–39RH 45–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 10 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 °C33 / 31–3434 / 33–3634 / 32–3733 / 31–3731 / 30–3429 / 29–3228 / 27–2928 / 27–2829 / 28–3030 / 29–3231 / 30–3333 / 31–33
Night °C19 / 18–2321 / 19–2423 / 22–2524 / 23–2523 / 22–2422 / 21–2322 / 20–2222 / 20–2222 / 20–2222 / 21–2221 / 19–2320 / 18–23
Rain mm7 / 1–1723 / 2–4969 / 15–121127 / 53–155162 / 119–185200 / 153–235199 / 139–236246 / 89–268233 / 164–289153 / 65–19736 / 5–5512 / 1–28
DLI37 / 33–3839 / 35–4137 / 34–4235 / 33–4033 / 30–3829 / 26–3526 / 25–3025 / 23–2927 / 26–3232 / 28–3735 / 30–3836 / 31–37
RH %45 / 36–6049 / 36–6157 / 44–6363 / 54–6666 / 60–6868 / 64–6968 / 66–7068 / 67–7068 / 67–6967 / 60–6959 / 46–6650 / 39–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 10 grid cells holding the 10 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 1638:3608 (8.075, 0.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.2 °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 10 distinct grid cells holding 10 of the 10 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1638:3608 (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 8.00_0.625, lapse-corrected +176 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 551 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.
NativeBenin, Burkina, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Zaïre, Zambia · 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 marker4.4, 9.25 · in the densest population, 92 records (49% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 188 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 10 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 187 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 7 km away. 35 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 178 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 inside the densest 4° block of the 188 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Chlorophytum orchidastrum, photograph 1did not loadChlorophytum orchidastrum, photograph 2did not loadChlorophytum orchidastrum, photograph 3did not loadChlorophytum orchidastrum, photograph 4did not loadChlorophytum orchidastrum, photograph 5did not loadChlorophytum orchidastrum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Scott from USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; JuanitaV, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Maja Dumat from Deutschland (Germany), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Salicyna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (3).

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

Khaya grandifoliola Khaya grandifoliola Benin mahogany Photo: CC0, S. MoreAframomum alboviolaceum Aframomum alboviolaceum Zingiberaceae Photo: CC BY, Zac PetersonGardenia imperialis Gardenia imperialis Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Robert TaylorRothmannia urcelliformis Rothmannia urcelliformis Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Sunday Berlioz KAKPOFicus vallis-choudae Ficus vallis-choudae Haroni fig Photo: CC BY, Mahomed DesaiCombretum paniculatum Combretum paniculatum Fire vine Photo: CC BY, Attila Oláh

Other Chlorophytum 20 in the reference

Chlorophytum alismifolium Chlorophytum alismifolium Asparagaceae Photo: CC0, DaderotChlorophytum borivilianum Chlorophytum borivilianum Safed musli Photo: CC BY-SA, Dinesh ValkeChlorophytum bowkeri Chlorophytum bowkeri Butterfly Green Lily Photo: CC0, author not statedChlorophytum capense Chlorophytum capense Bracketplant Photo: CC BY-SA, Boy PortugueseChlorophytum comosum Chlorophytum comosum Spider plant Photo: CC BY, Thomas MesaglioChlorophytum cooperi Chlorophytum cooperi Common Green Lily Photo: CC BY-SA, Antoinette Eyssell Knox Chlorophytum filipendulum Asparagaceae Chlorophytum graminifolium Chlorophytum graminifolium Grass Green Lily Photo: CC BY, Cricket RaspetChlorophytum holstii Chlorophytum holstii Asparagaceae Photo: CC0, DaderotChlorophytum krookianum Chlorophytum krookianum Giant Chlorophytum Photo: CC0, author not stated Chlorophytum lancifolium Asparagaceae Chlorophytum laxum Chlorophytum laxum Pongol Sword Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya all 21 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Chlorophytum macropodum; Chlorophytum mannii; Chlorophytum petiolatum; Chlorophytum seretii; Chlorophytum seretii var. likimensis and 3 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Asparagaceae
Described by
Lindl.
Native to
Benin, Burkina, Ghana +13
Wild records
188 in range · 187 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 8.00_0.625, lapse-corrected +176 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 nothing to reportasked 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 nothing to reportasked 2026-10-21
Wikimedia Commons commons 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 32 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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