Species
+

Dahlia coccinea Cav.

chalihuesca, red dahlia

Climate known 59 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Dahlia coccinea is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. Its common name is red dahlia, although the flowers can be orange or occasionally yellow, as well as the more common red. The species is native to Mexico but has long been cultivated in other countries for its showy flowers.

Text from Wikipedia, “Dahlia coccinea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Dahlia

Dahlia is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico and Central America. Dahlias are members of the Asteraceae family of dicotyledonous plants, its relatives include the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, and zinnia. There are 49 species of dahlia, with flowers in almost every hue, with hybrids commonly grown as garden plants.

Text from Wikipedia, “Dahlia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Asteraceae
Described by
Cav.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +6
Wild records
1694 in range· 646 open

At a glance

Warmest month
26°C
May, mean day; nights 12 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
982mm/yr
6 wet months · peak Jul 214 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–46DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 982 mm a year, wettest July at 214 mm, driest December at 10 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 46 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 1.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Bidens cervantesii B.D.Jacks.; Bidens cervantesii Baill.; Bidens coccinea (Cav.) Baill.; Dahlia acutiflora Moc. & Sessé; Dahlia acutiflora Moc. & Sessé ex DC. and 42 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (756 mm of 982 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 18.0 °C against a yearly mean of 16.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 982 mm a year, wettest July at 214 mm, driest December at 10 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

982 mm a year at the habitat, 756 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 214 mm, driest December at 10 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 595 mm to 1771 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 46 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 46 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 49).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 1.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 1.2 °C, the absolute minimum -5.0 °C, about 2 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 6.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells 2.8 °C to 11.9 °C), warmest day 25.6 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 1.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 49 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 20 °C in Jan to 26 °C in May; mean night from 7 °C in Jan to 13 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 982 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 941 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -5.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost31.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)-5.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 30–46RH 49–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 941 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C20 / 16–2521 / 18–2623 / 20–2825 / 22–3026 / 22–3124 / 20–2922 / 19–2722 / 19–2721 / 18–2621 / 18–2621 / 18–2520 / 17–25
Night °C7 / 3–127 / 4–129 / 5–1411 / 7–1612 / 9–1713 / 10–1813 / 10–1813 / 10–1812 / 10–1711 / 8–169 / 5–147 / 4–13
Rain mm20 / 9–4714 / 9–3311 / 4–2923 / 5–6158 / 19–132171 / 85–312214 / 108–329196 / 101–321175 / 102–33372 / 41–16818 / 10–6010 / 6–46
DLI32 / 26–3438 / 31–3944 / 38–4546 / 40–4945 / 40–4938 / 33–4337 / 33–4137 / 33–4033 / 29–3633 / 30–3532 / 28–3430 / 25–33
RH %53 / 48–6251 / 46–6049 / 43–5949 / 43–6054 / 46–6462 / 55–6865 / 59–6965 / 60–6966 / 60–7062 / 56–6857 / 50–6554 / 49–63

Each figure is the median across the 941 grid cells holding the 1655 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1425:1653 (18.725, -97.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -5.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 1.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 941 distinct grid cells holding the 1655 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1425:1653 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 18.50_-97.500, lapse-corrected +53 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2117 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala· introduced: Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, Madeira, Ethiopia, Bolivia, Peru
Kew's description“tuberous geophyte” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker19.317, -99.197 · in the densest population, 775 records (46% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1694 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 646 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 33 km away. 16 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 39 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1694 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dahlia coccineaDahlia coccineaDahlia coccineaDahlia coccineaDahlia coccineaDahlia coccineaDahlia coccineaDahlia coccinea

Photographs: (c) Ricardo Betancourt Sánchez, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Irving Merino, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Jena Rosado, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Erick Vélez Sánchez, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Roberto Rodriguez, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Dahlia coccinea, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Ecophysiology of seed germination of wild Dahlia coccinea (Asteraceae) in a spatially heterogeneous fire-prone habitat
Susana Vivar-Evans, Vı́ctor L. Barradas, María Esther Sánchez‐Coronado, Alicia Gamboa‐deBuen (2006) · Acta Oecologica
Evaluation of Exotic Cultivars of Dahlia (Dahlia coccinea) under Rawalakot Conditions
M. Jamil Ahmed, Shagufta Gul (2002) · Asian Journal of Plant Sciences
Are floral traits good predictors of effective pollinators? A test of pollination syndromes
Samantha Maite de los Santos‐Gómez, Dulce María Figueroa‐Castro, Carlos Castañeda‐Posadas (2021) · Ecological Research
Plant pararetroviral sequences in wild Dahlia species in their natural habitats in Mexican mountain ranges
Sahar Eid, Dayle E. Saar, K. L. Druffel, H. R. Pappu (2010) · Plant Pathology
Floral Visitor Guilds of Five Allochronic Flowering Asteraceous Species in a Xeric Community in Central Mexico
Dulce María Figueroa‐Castro, Zenón Cano‐Santana (2004) · Environmental Entomology
Natural acetylenes. Part XXXI. C14-tetrahydropyranyl and other polyacetylenes from the compositae Dahlia coccinea Cav. var. coccinea
C. Chin, M. C. Cutler, Ewart R. H. Jones, Jun Lee (1970) · Journal of the Chemical Society C Organic
Evaluation of inulin extracted from Mexican wild dahlias (Dahlia coccinea Cav.)
Santana Legorreta S, Adriana Villanueva‐Carvajal, Edgar Jesús Morales-Rosales, Antonio Laguna-Cerda (2016) · Phyton
Producción de estructuras reproductivas y fenología reproductuva de cinco especies de compuestas en una comunidad xerófita
Dulce María Figueroa‐Castro, Zenón Cano‐Santana, Edgar Camacho-Castillo (1998) · Botanical Sciences
Effectiveness of Vectors of Pollen and Longevity of Capitula for Four Species of Asteraceae in Central Mexico
Dulce María Figueroa‐Castro, Zenón Cano‐Santana (2011) · The Southwestern Naturalist
Growing Dahlias, Dahlia coccinea Cav., for Commercial Cut Flower Production in Aquaponics and AutoPots
Bella Dastvan, Joe Pate, John M. Dole, Tom Precht (2022) · Journal of Floriculture and Landscaping
Extracción y evaluación de inulina a partir de dalias silvestres mexicanas (Dahlia coccinea Cav.)
Sergio Santana Legorreta, Adriana Villanueva‐Carvajal, Edgar Jesús Morales-Rosales, Antonio Laguna-Cerda (2016) · Phyton (Buenos Aires)

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Dahlia 2 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 77 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.