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Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora; photograph (c) florawhite, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) florawhite, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-07-04

Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora (Lemoine) N.E.Br.

Montbretia; Garden montbretia; Autumn-gold; Crocosmia

Iridaceae · Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal · listed by its family as a bulb, tuber or caudex

A hybrid: C. aurea × C. pottsii, the parents Kew's World Checklist states for it (WCVP, RBG Kew).

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Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora, photograph (c) florawhite, some rights reserved (CC BY)Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora, photograph (c) florawhite, some rights reserved (CC BY)Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedCrocosmia × crocosmiiflora, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedCrocosmia × crocosmiiflora, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedCrocosmia × crocosmiiflora, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 71 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-2.6°C
Record low -5.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
24°C
Jan and Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
796mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
18–44DLI
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.

From few records: 3 records in 3 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora, or montbretia, is a garden hybrid of C. aurea and C. pottsii, first bred in 1880 in France by Victor Lemoine. The basionym of the hybrid is Montbretia crocosmiiflora Lemoine. In 1932 it was reclassified as C. × crocosmiiflora (Lemoine) N.E.Br., but the common name "montbretia" is still often found in horticultural literature, and is commonly used in the British Isles for orange-flowered cultivars that have naturalised, while "crocosmia" is reserved for less aggressive red-flowered cultivars.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Crocosmia

Crocosmia, also known as montbretia, is a small genus of flowering plants in the iris family, Iridaceae. It is native to the grasslands of southern and eastern Africa, ranging from South Africa to Sudan. One species is endemic to Madagascar.

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

Cultivation

Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex, listed under the family Iridaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “tuberous geophyte”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (645 mm of 888 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 18.2 °C against a yearly mean of 15.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

Rain

888 mm in the median year at the habitat, 645 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 125 mm, driest month July at 25 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 723 mm to 905 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 796 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 888 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: 18 to 44 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 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -2.6 °C, the absolute minimum -5.4 °C, 1,086 frost nights in 44 years, 24.7 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 2.4 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 2.2 °C to 8.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 24.0 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -2.6 °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: 49 to 63% 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 +344 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 Iridaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “tuberous geophyte”. 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 3 records in 3 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora through the yearWarmest months January and February, mean daily high 24 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 2.4 °C; 888 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.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost33.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-5.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 18–44RH 49–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 3 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 °C24 / 23–2424 / 23–2423 / 21–2321 / 19–2118 / 17–2016 / 14–1816 / 15–1718 / 16–1919 / 18–2220 / 19–2321 / 20–2323 / 22–24
Night °C14 / 12–1614 / 12–1712 / 11–159 / 9–146 / 6–113 / 3–92 / 2–85 / 4–98 / 6–1111 / 8–1212 / 9–1413 / 11–15
Rain mm125 / 74–139111 / 64–121102 / 76–10563 / 45–6634 / 19–4631 / 14–3825 / 7–3944 / 14–5846 / 28–5282 / 78–96106 / 80–121119 / 76–135
DLI43 / 41–4740 / 37–4134 / 32–3626 / 25–3021 / 20–2718 / 17–2420 / 18–2624 / 23–3131 / 31–3738 / 35–4042 / 40–4444 / 42–47
RH %63 / 60–6463 / 59–6561 / 59–6357 / 55–6152 / 50–5751 / 50–5549 / 48–5552 / 48–5755 / 49–6060 / 54–6262 / 57–6363 / 59–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 3 grid cells holding the 3 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 2451:4138 (-32.575, 26.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -5.4 °C, 1st-percentile night -2.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.8 °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 3 distinct grid cells holding 3 of the 3 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2451:4138 (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 -32.50_26.875, lapse-corrected +344 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1392 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal · introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Portugal, Spain, Azores, Canary Is., Madeira, Rwanda, Zaïre, Japan, Korea, Assam, Norfolk Is., Tasmania, Fiji, Hawaii, Alabama, Arkansas, Mexico Central, Mexico Southwest, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Argentina Northeast, Tristan da Cunha · 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).
Kew's description“tuberous geophyte” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 4 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 3 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 1 openly licensed one, which alone would put the marker 224 km away. 1558 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the map and the climate. 1 in-range record is placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stays on the map but off the climate.

Photographs

Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora, photograph 1did not loadCrocosmia × crocosmiiflora, photograph 2did not loadCrocosmia × crocosmiiflora, photograph 3did not loadCrocosmia × crocosmiiflora, photograph 4did not loadCrocosmia × crocosmiiflora, photograph 5did not loadCrocosmia × crocosmiiflora, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) florawhite, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (4).

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

Helichrysum argyrophyllum Helichrysum argyrophyllum Amatola Weed Photo: CC BY, Leon PerrieCephalaria oblongifolia Cephalaria oblongifolia Tsoene Mock Scabious Photo: CC BY, Morten RossPelargonium schizopetalum Pelargonium schizopetalum Divided-petal pelargonium Photo: CC BY, Karen EichholzHelichrysum adenocarpum Helichrysum adenocarpum Pink Everlasting Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony RebeloHelichrysum cooperi Helichrysum cooperi Drakensberg Yellow everlasting Photo: CC BY, Morten RossOcotea bullata Ocotea bullata Black stinkwood Photo: CC BY, Karen Eichholz

Other Crocosmia 4 in the reference

Crocosmia aurea Crocosmia aurea Falling stars Photo: CC BY-SA, Dylan LeonardCrocosmia masoniorum Crocosmia masoniorum Giant montbretia Photo: CC BY, Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., CanadaCrocosmia paniculata Crocosmia paniculata Aunt-Eliza Photo: CC0, author not statedCrocosmia pottsii Crocosmia pottsii Pott's Montbretia Photo: CC0, author not stated

Names & registers

Also known as Crocosmia xcrocosmiiflora; Montbretia crocosmiiflora; Tritonia crocosmaeflora. (GBIF Backbone)

Under another author Crocosmia aurea × pottsii is an older name of this species, not Crocosmia aurea, a species of the reference. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Iridaceae
Described by
(Lemoine) N.E.Br.
Native to
Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal
Wild records
4 in range · 1 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 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
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; 85 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (54 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 3 at a herbarium, 28 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -32.50_26.875, lapse-corrected +344 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 2026-10-22
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 165 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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