Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Crotalaria nitens; photograph Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BYDick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Crotalaria nitens Kunth

Fabaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf +17

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Crotalaria nitens, photograph 阿橋 HQ, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCrotalaria nitens, photograph Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons 3 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
13.7°C
Record low 12.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,609mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
28–33DLI
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
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. 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 · Crotalaria

Crotalaria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae commonly known as rattlepods. The genus includes over 700 species of herbaceous plants and shrubs. Africa is the continent with the majority of Crotalaria species, which are mainly found in damp grassland, especially in floodplains, depressions and along edges of swamps and rivers, but also in deciduous bush land, roadsides and fields. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,040 mm of 2,672 mm) takes 8 months, April to November. Mean temperature moves 0.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month. 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

2,672 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,040 mm of it April to November. Wettest month April at 290 mm, driest month January at 108 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,467 mm to 4,608 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,609 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,672 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: 28 to 33 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 23, 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 13.7 °C, the absolute minimum 12.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 25.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 15.5 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 11.2 °C to 21.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 24.6 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.7 °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: 65 to 70% 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 +347 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 Crotalaria nitens through the yearWarmest month August, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 15.5 °C; 2,672 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.10°15°20°25°30°35°25.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER12.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 28–33RH 65–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 147 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 °C23 / 19–3024 / 20–3024 / 20–3024 / 20–2924 / 19–2924 / 19–2924 / 19–2925 / 20–2924 / 20–2924 / 20–2923 / 20–2923 / 19–29
Night °C16 / 11–2216 / 12–2216 / 12–2216 / 13–2217 / 13–2216 / 13–2116 / 12–2116 / 12–2116 / 12–2216 / 12–2216 / 12–2216 / 12–22
Rain mm108 / 41–245148 / 46–300207 / 48–333290 / 71–503285 / 129–572239 / 91–515219 / 65–472218 / 68–420232 / 93–426288 / 157–465269 / 84–389169 / 61–255
DLI32 / 26–3532 / 29–3633 / 28–3730 / 25–3928 / 23–4028 / 23–3730 / 24–3933 / 27–3933 / 27–3831 / 26–3529 / 25–3330 / 24–33
RH %67 / 59–7266 / 59–7167 / 60–7268 / 62–7369 / 63–7367 / 62–7366 / 60–7265 / 59–7267 / 60–7269 / 63–7370 / 64–7468 / 62–73
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 147 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (171 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 1680:2080 (5.975, -75.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 12.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 25.8 °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 147 distinct grid cells holding 171 of the 172 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1680:2080 (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 6.00_-76.250, lapse-corrected +347 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1522 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.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Guyana, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Paraguay · 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 marker4.74, -74.433 · in the densest population, 115 records (27% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub or shrub” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 432 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 171 of them in the land cells it reads, of 172 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 377 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 200 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. 260 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 432 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Crotalaria nitens, photograph 1did not loadCrotalaria nitens, photograph 2did not load

Photographs: 阿橋 HQ, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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

Philodendron angustisectum Philodendron angustisectum Araceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel MesaPersea caerulea Persea caerulea Wild avocado Photo: CC BY, Luan Mazzeo Ormosia colombiana Fabaceae Chamaedorea pinnatifrons Chamaedorea pinnatifrons Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, Luis G RestrepoFicus tonduzii Ficus tonduzii Moraceae Photo: CC BY, Andrés Ramírez-BarreraBrowallia americana Browallia americana Jamaican forget-me-not Photo: CC BY, Naji Love

Other Crotalaria 26 in the reference

Crotalaria agatiflora Crotalaria agatiflora Canarybird-bush Photo: CC BY, Efrain FreireCrotalaria calycina Crotalaria calycina Hairy Rattlepod Photo: CC0, author not statedCrotalaria capensis Crotalaria capensis Cape Rattle-Pod Photo: CC BY, jeanjacquesgodonCrotalaria cunninghamii Crotalaria cunninghamii Parrot pea Photo: CC BY, Hugo InnesCrotalaria eremaea Crotalaria eremaea Bluebush pea Photo: CC BY, Petra HollandCrotalaria incana Crotalaria incana Shakeshake Photo: CC0, author not statedCrotalaria juncea Crotalaria juncea Sunn hemp Photo: CC BY, Nick DotyCrotalaria lanceolata Crotalaria lanceolata Lanceleaf rattlebox Photo: CC BY, carterCrotalaria longirostrata Crotalaria longirostrata Longbeak rattlebox Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezCrotalaria maypurensis Crotalaria maypurensis Fabaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedCrotalaria medicaginea Crotalaria medicaginea Trefoil rattlepod Photo: CC BY, Petra HollandCrotalaria micans Crotalaria micans Caracas rattlebox Photo: CC BY, Robin White all 27 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Crotalaria bracteata; Crotalaria exstipulata; Crotalaria nitens var. nitens; Crotalaria nitens var. trichina; Crotalaria nitidula. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
Kunth
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest +16
Wild records
432 in range · 377 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
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 6.00_-76.250, lapse-corrected +347 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 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 nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons 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 61 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…