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An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana; photograph (c) Nathan Van Cooten, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Nathan Van Cooten, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-06-01

Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana (Hanst.) H.E.Moore

Gesneriaceae · Costa Rica, Guatemala +5

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Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, photograph (c) River Ahlquist, some rights reserved (CC BY)Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, photograph (c) reagan peschke, some rights reserved (CC BY)Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, photograph (c) reagan peschke, some rights reserved (CC BY)Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, photograph (c) reagan peschke, some rights reserved (CC BY)Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, photograph (c) reagan peschke, some rights reserved (CC BY)Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, photograph (c) reagan peschke, some rights reserved (CC BY) 60 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
19.5°C
Record low 17.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Feb, Mar, Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,921mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–36DLI
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 November (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.

About the genus · Chrysothemis

In Greek mythology, Chrysothemis or Khrysothemis is a name ascribed to several female characters in Greek mythology.Chrysothemis, daughter of Carmanor and the first winner of the oldest contest held at the Pythian Games, the singing of a hymn to Apollo. She was the wife of Staphylus or a lover of Apollo. Chrysothemis, a Hesperid pictured and named on an ancient vase together with Asterope, Hygieia and Lipara. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (3,071 mm of 3,952 mm) falls in May to November. The temperature curve is flat, 0.9 °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

3,952 mm in the median year at the habitat, 3,071 mm of it May to November. Wettest month October at 474 mm, driest month February at 108 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,575 mm to 7,043 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,921 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 3,952 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 36 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 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 19.5 °C, the absolute minimum 17.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 22.3 °C in January, November and December (across the grid cells of the range 19.0 °C to 23.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.3 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.5 °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: 66 to 72% 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 -345 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 Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana through the yearWarmest months February, March, April and May, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest months January, November and December, mean nightly low 22.3 °C; 3,952 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.15°20°25°30°35°40°35.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER17.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter02004006008001000mm rainDLI 25–36RH 66–72%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 178 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 °C27 / 25–2928 / 26–3028 / 26–3028 / 26–3028 / 26–2927 / 25–2927 / 25–2927 / 25–2927 / 25–2927 / 25–2827 / 25–2827 / 25–29
Night °C22 / 19–2423 / 19–2423 / 20–2423 / 20–2423 / 20–2423 / 20–2423 / 20–2423 / 20–2423 / 20–2422 / 20–2422 / 20–2422 / 19–24
Rain mm124 / 38–488108 / 20–413138 / 30–485272 / 94–572431 / 279–746416 / 272–679422 / 230–723444 / 226–797457 / 245–757474 / 263–870427 / 208–725239 / 150–534
DLI31 / 22–3433 / 24–3836 / 25–4034 / 23–3728 / 21–3126 / 20–2926 / 21–3027 / 21–3027 / 21–3125 / 21–2925 / 20–2727 / 21–30
RH %68 / 62–7467 / 60–7266 / 61–7269 / 63–7471 / 67–7572 / 69–7672 / 68–7672 / 68–7672 / 68–7672 / 69–7772 / 68–7770 / 65–75
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 178 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (313 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is 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 1604:1908 (9.775, -84.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 17.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.8 °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 178 distinct grid cells holding 313 of the 314 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1604:1908 (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 10.00_-84.375, lapse-corrected -345 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 312 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.
NativeCosta Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, 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 marker9.317, -83.803 · in the densest population, 301 records (45% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 672 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 313 of them in the land cells it reads, of 314 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 446 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 91 km away. 4 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 358 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 672 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, photograph 1did not loadChrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, photograph 2did not loadChrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, photograph 3did not loadChrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, photograph 4did not loadChrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, photograph 5did not loadChrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) River Ahlquist, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) reagan peschke, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5).

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

Aechmea dactylina Aechmea dactylina Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Lena StruwePleiostachya pruinosa Pleiostachya pruinosa Prayer plant Photo: CC BY, Andrea GantzerHeliconia longiflora Heliconia longiflora Heliconiaceae Photo: CC BY, River AhlquistAechmea pubescens Aechmea pubescens Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Andrea GantzerEpiscia lilacina Episcia lilacina Gesneriaceae Photo: CC BY, Martin JungPhilodendron pterotum Philodendron pterotum Araceae Photo: CC BY, River Ahlquist

Other Chrysothemis 3 in the reference

Chrysothemis melittifolia Chrysothemis melittifolia Gesneriaceae Photo: CC BY, Guillaume DelaitreChrysothemis panamensis Chrysothemis panamensis Gesneriaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezChrysothemis pulchella Chrysothemis pulchella Squarestem Photo: CC BY, Gijs Romijn

Names & registers

Also known as Tussacia friedrichsthaliana. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Gesneriaceae
Described by
(Hanst.) H.E.Moore
Native to
Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras +4
Wild records
672 in range · 446 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; 9 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (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 10.00_-84.375, lapse-corrected -345 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 37 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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