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Cissus rotundifolia; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2025-12-30

Cissus rotundifolia Lam.

Arabian wax cissus; Venezuelan treebine

Vitaceae · Burundi, Zaïre +19

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Cissus rotundifolia Lam.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Forssk.) Vahl.

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Cissus rotundifolia, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedCissus rotundifolia, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedCissus rotundifolia, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedCissus rotundifolia, photograph (c) Dave Richardson, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cissus rotundifolia, photograph (c) Dave Richardson, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cissus rotundifolia, photograph (c) Dave Richardson, some rights reserved (CC BY) 64 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
9.7°C
Record low 5.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Jan and Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
727mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
24–38DLI
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 September (October to March 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.

Summary

Cissus rotundifolia is a perennial, evergreen climber in the Vitaceae family.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Cissus rotundifolia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Cissus

Cissus is a genus of 350 species of lianas in the grape family (Vitaceae). Species are native to the tropical and subtropical Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, tropical Asia, Papuasia, and Australia.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (528 mm of 685 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.5 °C against a yearly mean of 22.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

Rain

685 mm in the median year at the habitat, 528 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 102 mm, driest month July at 12 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 490 mm to 1,141 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 727 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 685 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: 24 to 38 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 21, 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 9.7 °C, the absolute minimum 5.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 13.0 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 10.1 °C to 22.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 30.0 °C in January and February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 9.7 °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: 55 to 59% 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 -51 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 Cissus rotundifolia through the yearWarmest months January and February, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 13.0 °C; 685 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.0°10°20°30°40°38.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER5.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 24–38RH 55–59%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 225 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 °C30 / 25–3230 / 26–3229 / 27–3228 / 26–3126 / 24–3024 / 23–3024 / 22–2926 / 23–3028 / 25–3128 / 25–3128 / 25–3229 / 25–32
Night °C21 / 15–2421 / 15–2420 / 16–2318 / 16–2316 / 13–2313 / 10–2313 / 10–2214 / 12–2216 / 14–2218 / 15–2219 / 15–2220 / 15–23
Rain mm102 / 23–14594 / 11–14083 / 48–13550 / 28–16831 / 12–12117 / 6–6012 / 7–5220 / 7–5827 / 13–5556 / 27–10195 / 56–12498 / 41–134
DLI38 / 36–4037 / 35–4234 / 32–4230 / 27–4027 / 24–3924 / 21–3725 / 22–3629 / 26–3834 / 30–4136 / 31–4136 / 33–4037 / 35–40
RH %59 / 55–6259 / 54–6359 / 55–6259 / 55–6258 / 53–6255 / 52–6055 / 52–6055 / 51–6055 / 51–6157 / 52–6159 / 54–6359 / 56–62
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 225 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (346 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 2337:4246 (-26.875, 32.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 9.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.7 °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 225 distinct grid cells holding 346 of the 347 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2337:4246 (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 -27.00_32.500, lapse-corrected -51 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 26 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.
NativeBurundi, Zaïre, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Mauritius, Réunion, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen · introduced: Seychelles, India, Hawaii, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Windward Is. · 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-26.92, 32.25 · in the densest population, 190 records (32% of those in range)
Kew's description“climbing 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 590 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 346 of them in the land cells it reads, of 347 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 360 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 27 km away. 93 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 243 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 590 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Cissus rotundifolia, photograph 1did not loadCissus rotundifolia, photograph 2did not loadCissus rotundifolia, photograph 3did not loadCissus rotundifolia, photograph 4did not loadCissus rotundifolia, photograph 5did not loadCissus rotundifolia, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Dave Richardson, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

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

Coffea racemosa Coffea racemosa Inhambane coffee Photo: CC BY-SA, Ton RulkensGardenia cornuta Gardenia cornuta Horned Gardenia Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony RebeloJusticia flava Justicia flava Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Rebecca Ryen-StolsEuphorbia grandicornis Euphorbia grandicornis Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony RebeloCarissa tetramera Carissa tetramera Sand Carissa Photo: CC BY, Dave RichardsonCrossandra fruticulosa Crossandra fruticulosa Shade Crossandra Photo: CC BY, Sunčana Bradley

Other Cissus 17 in the reference

Cissus alata Cissus alata Venezuela treebine Photo: CC BY, Francisco Farriols SarabiaCissus cactiformis Cissus cactiformis Cactus Grape Photo: CC0, author not statedCissus discolor Cissus discolor Rex-begonia-vine Photo: CC BY, Eugene PopovCissus erosa Cissus erosa Caro de tres hojas Photo: CC BY, Enrique Salazar Cissus gongylodes Vitaceae Cissus hastata Cissus hastata White-stemmed Button Vine Photo: CC BY, Steven Bodzin Cissus kerrii Vitaceae Cissus nodosa Cissus nodosa Javanese treebine Photo: CC BY, Kevin FaccendaCissus palmata Cissus palmata Grape Photo: CC BY, Felipe HortonCissus pteroclada Cissus pteroclada Vitaceae Photo: CC BY, 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi)Cissus quadrangularis Cissus quadrangularis Veldt-grape Photo: CC BY, Elliot GreinerCissus repens Cissus repens Cissus Photo: CC0, author not stated all 18 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Cissus crassifolia; Cissus rotundifolia var. rotundifolia; Saelanthus rotundifolius; Vitis crassifolia; Vitis forskahlii and 2 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Under another author Vitis rotundifolia (Vahl) Deflers is an older name of this species, not Vitis rotundifolia, a species of the reference. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Vitaceae
Described by
Lam.
Native to
Burundi, Zaïre, Djibouti +18
Wild records
590 in range · 360 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 3039168 is Cissus rotundifolia (Forssk.) Vahl; the page links Kew's Cissus rotundifolia Lam., 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; 5 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (5 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 -27.00_32.500, lapse-corrected -51 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Cissus rotundifolia Lam. (the item's: IPNI 67922-1, POWO 67922-1)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 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 49 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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