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Daphne sophia Kolenicz.

Thymelaeaceae · Central European Russia, South European Russia +1

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Daphne sophia Kolenicz.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Kalen.

Photographs not checked iNaturalist was skipped (not asked) when this page was built. Not asked, or not answered, is not "none": nothing here claims there is none. Why the site says it this way.
Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-23.9°C
Record low -37.0 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
602mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
4–37DLI
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
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Daphne sophia, also known as Sophia's daphne or Altai daphne, is a shrub of the family Thymelaeaceae. It is a relict endemic species with a fragmented range, found only in the Belgorod region of Russia and the Kharkiv region of Ukraine within the Central Russian Upland.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Daphne sophia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Daphne

Daphne, a figure in Greek mythology, was in various retellings a mortal woman or a nymph, daughter of a river god. The god Apollo fell in love with Daphne and chased her against her wishes, but before he caught her, Daphne prayed for escape, and was transformed into a laurel tree. Thenceforth Apollo developed a special reverence for laurel.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (440 mm of 603 mm) takes 8 months, May to December. Mean temperature moves 26.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to June.

Rain

603 mm in the median year at the habitat, 440 mm of it May to December. Wettest month June at 70 mm, driest month March at 37 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 581 mm to 633 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 602 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 603 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: 4 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -23.9 °C, the absolute minimum -37.0 °C, 6,954 frost nights in 44 years, 158.0 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -8.6 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range -9.7 °C to -8.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.5 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -23.9 °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: 55 to 72% 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 +5 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 Daphne sophia through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low -8.6 °C; 603 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.-40°-20°0°20°40°frost34.2° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-37.0° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100mm rainDLI 4–37RH 55–72%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 12 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 °C-3 / -4–-3-3 / -4–-33 / 2–413 / 12–1320 / 19–2024 / 23–2426 / 25–2625 / 24–2518 / 18–1911 / 10–123 / 2–3-2 / -3–-2
Night °C-8 / -9–-8-9 / -10–-8-4 / -5–-43 / 3–49 / 9–1014 / 14–1416 / 16–1615 / 15–1510 / 9–104 / 4–4-2 / -3–-2-7 / -7–-6
Rain mm46 / 44–4741 / 39–4237 / 35–3839 / 38–4350 / 48–5270 / 67–7769 / 65–7549 / 47–5555 / 54–6350 / 49–5549 / 47–5148 / 45–49
DLI6 / 6–611 / 11–1120 / 19–2027 / 27–2735 / 35–3537 / 37–3736 / 36–3731 / 30–3221 / 20–2212 / 12–136 / 6–74 / 4–4
RH %72 / 71–7370 / 69–7164 / 63–6557 / 57–5855 / 54–555656 / 56–5755 / 55–5658 / 58–5962 / 61–6367 / 67–6870 / 69–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 12 grid cells holding the 13 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 792:4344 (50.375, 37.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -37.0 °C, 1st-percentile night -23.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.2 °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 12 distinct grid cells holding 13 of the 13 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 792:4344 (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 50.50_37.500, lapse-corrected +5 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 182 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.
NativeCentral European Russia, South European Russia, Ukraine · 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 marker50.398, 37.38 · in the densest population, 26 records (90% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 29 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 13 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 17 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 11 km away. 8 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 16 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.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 7311470 (Daphne sophia Kolenicz.): Kew's file holds it as Daphne sophia Kolenicz. (accepted); 3 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 29 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Not checked. iNaturalist was skipped (not asked) when this page was built; GBIF's observation records with coordinates hold none. Not a statement that none exist.

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

Dianthus campestris Dianthus campestris Caryophyllaceae Photo: CC BY, Мирослав СоболевSium sisarum Sium sisarum Skirret Photo: CC BY, Aleksei BaushevAllium flavescens Allium flavescens Amaryllidaceae Photo: CC BY, Aleksei BaushevGeranium collinum Geranium collinum Geraniaceae Photo: CC BY, Анна МитрошенковаGladiolus tenuis Gladiolus tenuis Iridaceae Photo: CC BY, Jesenia K.Vincetoxicum rossicum Vincetoxicum rossicum Pale swallow-wort Photo: CC BY, Sandy Wolkenberg

Other Daphne 44 in the reference

Daphne acutiloba Daphne acutiloba Thymelaeaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, KenraizDaphne alpina Daphne alpina Alpine daphne Photo: CC BY, mycorocoDaphne altaica Daphne altaica Altai mezereon Photo: CC BY, Yeskendir SatekovDaphne arbuscula Daphne arbuscula Thymelaeaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, ghislain118…Daphne arisanensis Daphne arisanensis Thymelaeaceae Photo: CC BY, 槲蕨MiuDaphne aurantiaca Daphne aurantiaca Thymelaeaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, C T JohanssonDaphne bholua Daphne bholua Lokta Photo: CC BY, Barry StewartDaphne blagayana Daphne blagayana Balkan daphne Photo: CC BY-SA, xulescu_gDaphne caucasica Daphne caucasica Caucasian daphne Photo: CC BY-SA, Sten PorseDaphne cneorum Daphne cneorum Garland-flower Photo: CC BY, Antoine ThivolleDaphne domini Daphne domini Thymelaeaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Gerhard BuzasDaphne gemmata Daphne gemmata Thymelaeaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, 阿橋 HQ all 45 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Thymelaeaceae
Described by
Kolenicz.
Native to
Central European Russia, South European Russia, Ukraine
Wild records
29 in range · 17 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 9533040 is Daphne sophia Kalen.; Kew accepts Daphne sophia Kolenicz., and the name is cited as Kew accepts it; its synonyms and common names are read from GBIF's Daphne sophia Kolenicz. (7311470) too
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-220 read from GBIF's Daphne sophia Kolenicz. (7311470)
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 answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 3 records of GBIF's key 7311470, Daphne sophia Kolenicz. (Kew's file holds it as Daphne sophia Kolenicz. (accepted)): GBIF occurrence search API; 3 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (3 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 50.50_37.500, lapse-corrected +5 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 831360-1 is Kew's for Daphne sophia Kolenicz.
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 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 nothing to reportasked 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 11 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…