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Cuphea dipetala; photograph (c) Nicole Kearney, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Nicole Kearney, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2025-10-25

Cuphea dipetala (L.f.) Koehne

Lythraceae · Colombia, Peru

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Cuphea dipetala (L.f.) Koehne: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (L.fil.) Koehne.

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Cuphea dipetala, photograph (c) Nicolás Baresch Uribe, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cuphea dipetala, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedCuphea dipetala, photograph (c) Nicole Kearney, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cuphea dipetala, photograph (c) Nicole Kearney, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cuphea dipetala, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedCuphea dipetala, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 61 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
9.4°C
Jan at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
18°C
Jan, Feb, Mar, Aug, Sep and Oct at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,716mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–32DLI
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, March to July and October to November (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.

About the genus · Cuphea

Cuphea is a genus containing about 260 species of annual and perennial flowering plants native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas. The species range from low-growing herbaceous plants to semi-woody shrubs up to 2 m tall. Commonly they are known as cupheas, or, in the case of some species, as cigar plants. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,126 mm of 1,600 mm) falls in March to July and October to November. The temperature curve is flat, 0.7 °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, 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

1,600 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,126 mm of it March to July and October to November. Wettest month April at 193 mm, driest month January at 69 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,165 mm to 2,388 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,716 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,600 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: 25 to 32 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 37).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 9.4 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 6.7 °C to 12.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 18.2 °C in September (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 9.4 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, January, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 63 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. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. 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 Cuphea dipetala through the yearWarmest months January, February, March, August, September and October, mean daily high 18 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 9.4 °C; 1,600 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.5°10°15°20°25°°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 25–32RH 63–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 59 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C18 / 16–2018 / 16–2118 / 16–2117 / 15–2017 / 15–2017 / 15–2017 / 14–2118 / 15–2118 / 16–2118 / 16–2117 / 15–2017 / 15–20
Night °C9 / 7–1310 / 7–1310 / 8–1411 / 8–1411 / 8–1410 / 7–1410 / 6–1410 / 6–1410 / 6–1410 / 7–1310 / 7–1310 / 7–13
Rain mm69 / 36–15794 / 58–169134 / 89–222193 / 135–297189 / 132–289122 / 73–253111 / 61–25298 / 63–201110 / 73–196187 / 137–294190 / 126–293103 / 65–187
DLI32 / 30–3432 / 30–3431 / 29–3427 / 23–3125 / 21–3125 / 21–3027 / 24–3131 / 27–3532 / 29–3730 / 26–3529 / 25–3230 / 28–32
RH %65 / 61–6966 / 61–6967 / 62–7068 / 65–7168 / 64–7166 / 60–7065 / 58–6963 / 57–6863 / 58–6766 / 62–7068 / 64–7167 / 62–70

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, +1145 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum 1.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 5.4 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 59 grid cells holding the 131 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 1702:2116 (4.875, -74.175). 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 59 distinct grid cells holding 131 of the 131 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1702:2116 (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 5.00_-74.375, lapse-corrected +1145 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2708 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.
NativeColombia, Peru · 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 marker4.804, -74.127 · in the densest population, 153 records (95% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub or shrub” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 161 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 131 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 85 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. 30 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 161 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Cuphea dipetala, photograph 1did not loadCuphea dipetala, photograph 2did not loadCuphea dipetala, photograph 3did not loadCuphea dipetala, photograph 4did not loadCuphea dipetala, photograph 5did not loadCuphea dipetala, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Nicolás Baresch Uribe, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Nicole Kearney, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

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

Epidendrum moritzii Epidendrum moritzii Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Nicolás Baresch UribeMasdevallia caudata Masdevallia caudata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Nicolás Baresch UribeAlloispermum caracasanum Alloispermum caracasanum Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Julien RenoultVerbesina crassiramea Verbesina crassiramea Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, EstebanMHOxalis spiralis Oxalis spiralis Spiral sorrel Photo: CC0, Andrew J. CrawfordPleurothallis phalangifera Pleurothallis phalangifera Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Simón Ruiz-Triana

Other Cuphea 21 in the reference

Cuphea aequipetala Cuphea aequipetala Lythraceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialCuphea appendiculata Cuphea appendiculata Lythraceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezCuphea calophylla Cuphea calophylla Lythraceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Piter Kehoma BollCuphea carthagenensis Cuphea carthagenensis Colombian waxweed Photo: CC0, author not statedCuphea ciliata Cuphea ciliata Lythraceae Photo: CC0, author not statedCuphea cyanea Cuphea cyanea Caribbean-sunset Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialCuphea fruticosa Cuphea fruticosa Lythraceae Photo: CC BY, Felipe HortonCuphea glutinosa Cuphea glutinosa Sticky waxweed Photo: CC BY, Chet BurrierCuphea hookeriana Cuphea hookeriana Lythraceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialCuphea hyssopifolia Cuphea hyssopifolia False heather Photo: CC BY, Vreni Gem O. CaasiCuphea ignea Cuphea ignea Cigar flower Photo: CC BY, Leon PerrieCuphea lanceolata Cuphea lanceolata Lythraceae Photo: CC BY, Arturo Castro Castro all 22 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Cuphea verticillata; Dipetalon speciosum; Lythrum dipetalum. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Lythraceae
Described by
(L.f.) Koehne
Native to
Colombia, Peru
Wild records
161 in range · 85 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 2026-10-22GBIF's key 3989371 is Cuphea dipetala (L.fil.) Koehne; the page links Kew's Cuphea dipetala (L.f.) Koehne, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
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; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a botanic garden or arboretum; 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 5.00_-74.375, lapse-corrected +1145 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, +1145 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 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 18 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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