18 photographs › At a glance
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar, under 5 mm of rain
- Apr, under 5 mm of rain
- May, under 5 mm of rain
- Jun, under 5 mm of rain
- Jul
- Aug, shaded
- Sep, shaded
- Oct, shaded
- Nov
- Dec
Summary
Cochemiea capensis is a species of Cochemiea found in Mexico.
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Cochemiea capensis", CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the genus · Cochemiea
Cochemiea is a genus of cactus. The group was previously synonymized with Mammillaria, until molecular phylogenetic studies determined that—when broadly circumscribed—Mammillaria is not monophyletic; thus, Cochemiea has been accepted as a distinct genus.
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Cochemiea", CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cultivation
Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the family Cactaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent subshrub”.
Seasons
The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (213 mm of 297 mm) falls in August to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 28.2 °C against a yearly mean of 24.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: February to April.
Rain
297 mm in the median year at the habitat, 213 mm of it August to October. Wettest month September at 112 mm, driest month May at 0 mm; 4 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 221 mm to 371 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 302 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 297 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: 27 to 51 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 26, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).
Warmth and air
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 13.8 °C, the absolute minimum 9.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.9 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 16.0 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range 14.7 °C to 16.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.7 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).
Relative humidity at the habitat: 52 to 61% 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 -248 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 family Cactaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent subshrub”. 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
Habitat months, northern hemisphere
Mean daily high from 23 °C in Jan to 32 °C in Jul and Aug; mean nightly low from 16 °C in Jan, Feb and Mar to 26 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Jan to Mar, is the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low, centred on the 3 months in a row that tie for it. 297 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added), the wettest month Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 12 habitat cells. Over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER) the absolute minimum was 9.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 37.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.
Figures by month
| Figure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 23 / 21–24 | 24 / 22–25 | 25 / 24–26 | 27 / 26–29 | 29 / 26–32 | 31 / 28–34 | 32 / 30–34 | 32 / 31–34 | 31 / 30–33 | 30 / 29–31 | 27 / 26–28 | 24 / 22–25 |
| Night °C | 16 / 15–16 | 16 / 15–17 | 16 / 15–17 | 18 / 17–19 | 19 / 18–21 | 23 / 20–24 | 25 / 24–27 | 26 / 25–27 | 25 / 25–26 | 23 / 22–24 | 20 / 19–21 | 17 / 16–18 |
| Rain mm | 21 / 19–22 | 7 / 6–7 | 2 / 2–3 | 1 / 0–1 | 0 / 0–1 | 1 | 27 / 19–32 | 73 / 52–84 | 112 / 75–148 | 28 / 19–50 | 10 / 8–24 | 15 / 13–18 |
| DLI | 29 / 28–29 | 35 / 35–36 | 43 / 42–43 | 48 / 48–49 | 51 / 51–52 | 50 / 50–51 | 46 / 44–47 | 43 / 41–44 | 38 / 37–39 | 36 / 35–37 | 30 / 30–31 | 27 / 26–27 |
| RH % | 59 / 53–60 | 57 / 50–58 | 55 / 47–58 | 52 / 44–58 | 53 / 43–60 | 54 / 45–61 | 57 / 51–63 | 59 / 54–64 | 61 / 58–65 | 59 / 53–62 | 59 / 53–60 | 59 / 54–60 |
How this section is made
Natural habitat
How this section is made
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Abraham Sánchez Romero, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Jose Luis Leon de la Luz, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).
Related
Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.
Passiflora pentaschista Desert Passionfruit Photo: CC0, Augusto Olmos Mercado
Gossypium klotzschianum Galapagos Cotton Photo: CC BY, Rachel Allingham
Cochemiea armillata Los Cabos Nipple Cactus Photo: CC BY, Erick Vélez Sánchez
Cyrtocarpa edulis Cimarron plum Photo: CC BY, Abraham Sánchez Romero
Bursera epinnata Southern Elephant Tree Photo: CC BY, Abraham Sánchez Romero
Bursera filicifolia Burseraceae Photo: CC BY, MarvalPhotography19Other Cochemiea 33 in the reference
Cochemiea albicans Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Bill Levine Cochemiea armillata Los Cabos Nipple Cactus Photo: CC BY, Erick Vélez Sánchez
Cochemiea barbata Green-flowered pincushion cactus Photo: CC BY, Elisa
Cochemiea blossfeldiana Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, MarvalPhotography19
Cochemiea boolii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Norma Piedra
Cochemiea cerralboa Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated
Cochemiea conoidea Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, CK2AZ
Cochemiea dioica Coastal Fish Hook Cactus Photo: CC BY, Sue Carnahan
Cochemiea estebanensis Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Luis Fernando Valdez Ojeda
Cochemiea fraileana Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Abraham Sánchez Romero
Cochemiea grahamii Graham's nipple cactus Photo: CC BY, Bruce Hartman
Cochemiea guelzowiana Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, amantedarmanin all 34 ›Names & registers
Also known as Chilita capensis; Ebnerella capensis; Mammillaria capensis; Mammillaria dioica var. capensis; Neomammillaria capensis. (GBIF Backbone)
The record
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 answeredasked 2026-10-21gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21climate answeredasked 2026-10-21climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 23.50_-110.000, lapse-corrected -248 m at 6.5 °C/kmwikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21inat.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 2026-10-22inat.photos.cultivated not askedgbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rulescommons answeredasked 2026-10-21openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshotEvery 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 7 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.