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Coelogyne imbricata; photograph Forestowlet, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons CC0Forestowlet, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Coelogyne imbricata (Hook.) Rchb.f.

Orchidaceae · China South-Central, Tibet +31 · listed by its genus as an orchid

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Coelogyne imbricata, photograph Forestowlet, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsCoelogyne imbricata, photograph Forestowlet, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsCoelogyne imbricata, photograph Forestowlet, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsCoelogyne imbricata, photograph Forestowlet, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsCoelogyne imbricata, photograph Forestowlet, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsCoelogyne imbricata, photograph Forestowlet, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
14.3°C
Record low 6.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Jan and Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,931mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–43DLI
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, December to March (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.

Summary

Coelogyne imbricata, commonly known as the common rattlesnake orchid or necklace orchid, is a plant in the orchid family and is a clump-forming epiphyte or lithophyte with crowded pseudobulbs. Each pseudobulb has a single pleated, leathery leaf and up to sixty white, cream-coloured or greenish, cup-shaped flowers in two ranks along a wiry flowering stem. There is a large, papery bract at the base of each flower. This species is native to areas from tropical and subtropical Asia to the southwest Pacific.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Coelogyne imbricata", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as an orchid, listed under the genus Coelogyne in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “pseudobulbous epiphyte or lithophyte”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,369 mm of 1,921 mm) falls in December to March. The temperature curve is flat, 3.8 °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, southern hemisphere. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,921 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,369 mm of it December to March. Wettest month February at 400 mm, driest month September at 27 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,325 mm to 3,883 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,931 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,921 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: 27 to 43 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 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 14.3 °C, the absolute minimum 6.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 20.1 °C in August (across the grid cells of the range 14.6 °C to 23.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.7 °C in December (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.3 °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: 64 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 +28 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 Coelogyne in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “pseudobulbous epiphyte or lithophyte”. 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, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Coelogyne imbricata through the yearWarmest months January and December, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month August, mean nightly low 20.1 °C; 1,921 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°37.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER6.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 27–43RH 64–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 42 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 °C29 / 25–3028 / 26–3028 / 25–3027 / 24–2927 / 23–2925 / 21–2725 / 21–2725 / 21–2726 / 23–2927 / 25–3028 / 26–3029 / 26–30
Night °C24 / 18–2624 / 18–2623 / 19–2623 / 19–2522 / 17–2520 / 15–2520 / 14–2420 / 15–2321 / 16–2422 / 18–2523 / 17–2624 / 18–26
Rain mm381 / 206–546400 / 237–550368 / 133–549193 / 66–34591 / 28–25448 / 13–18737 / 10–26031 / 8–23427 / 5–23742 / 20–15583 / 59–212220 / 139–296
DLI36 / 29–3934 / 31–3634 / 31–3632 / 30–3629 / 26–3627 / 24–3127 / 25–3132 / 30–3538 / 31–4043 / 32–4443 / 31–4439 / 29–42
RH %67 / 61–7168 / 62–7268 / 62–7166 / 63–7266 / 63–7165 / 62–7065 / 62–6965 / 61–6964 / 61–6964 / 61–6764 / 61–6966 / 61–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 42 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (42 records in those cells; 2 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are 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 2076:6468 (-13.825, 143.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 6.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.6 °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 42 distinct grid cells holding 42 of the 44 in-range records (2 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2076:6468 (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 -14.00_143.125, lapse-corrected +28 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 217 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.
NativeChina South-Central, Tibet, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Queensland, Fiji, New Caledonia, Santa Cruz Is., Tonga, Vanuatu · 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-16.8, 145.6 · in the densest population, 40 records (27% of those in range)
Kew's description“pseudobulbous epiphyte or lithophyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 147 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 42 of them in the land cells it reads, of 44 placed to within 10 km, all openly licensed and shown on the map. 3 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 103 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 147 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Coelogyne imbricata, photograph 1did not loadCoelogyne imbricata, photograph 2did not loadCoelogyne imbricata, photograph 3did not loadCoelogyne imbricata, photograph 4did not loadCoelogyne imbricata, photograph 5did not loadCoelogyne imbricata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Forestowlet, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (6).

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

Alchornea rugosa Alchornea rugosa Alchorntree Photo: CC BY-SA, Steve FitzgeraldEntada rheedei Entada rheedei African dream herb Photo: CC0, author not statedBarringtonia calyptrata Barringtonia calyptrata Corned Beef Wood Photo: CC BY-SA, Steve FitzgeraldDillenia alata Dillenia alata Dilleniaceae Photo: CC BY, Luke LythgoeDendrobium smillieae Dendrobium smillieae Bottlebrush orchid Photo: CC BY, Luke LythgoeGarcinia warrenii Garcinia warrenii Warren's mangosteen Photo: CC BY, Martin Rady

Other Coelogyne 76 in the reference

Coelogyne abbreviata Orchidaceae Coelogyne arachnites Coelogyne arachnites Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Forest Botial-JarvisCoelogyne articulata Coelogyne articulata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Cheng-Te HsuCoelogyne asperata Coelogyne asperata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Nielbert RanerCoelogyne barbata Coelogyne barbata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Dalton Holland BaptistaCoelogyne beccarii Coelogyne beccarii Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Cheongweei Gan Coelogyne bigibbosa Orchidaceae Coelogyne brachyptera Coelogyne brachyptera Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Dotuanhungdaklak at Vietnamese Wikipedia Coelogyne bracteosa Orchidaceae Coelogyne cantonensis Coelogyne cantonensis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, angryphyco Coelogyne carinata Orchidaceae Coelogyne carnea Orchidaceae all 77 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Coelogyne conchoidea; Coelogyne crotalina; Coelogyne loricata; Coelogyne triotos; Cymbidium imbricatum and 20 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipedia

The record

Family
Orchidaceae
Described by
(Hook.) Rchb.f.
Native to
China South-Central, Tibet, Assam +30
Wild records
147 in range · 147 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; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 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 -14.00_143.125, lapse-corrected +28 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 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 20 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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