Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Edithcolea grandis; photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAFrank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Edithcolea grandis N.E.Br.

Apocynaceae · Djibouti, Ethiopia +6 · listed by its genus as a cactus or succulent

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Edithcolea grandis, photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEdithcolea grandis, photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEdithcolea grandis, photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEdithcolea grandis, photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEdithcolea grandis, photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEdithcolea grandis, photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
13.7°C
Record low 10.6 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Mar at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
660mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
35–42DLI
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 May and November to December (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.

Summary

Edithcolea is a monotypic genus with a single species Edithcolea grandis (Persian carpet flower). Once classified in the family Asclepiadaceae, it is now in the subfamily Asclepiadoideae of the dogbane family Apocynaceae. It is native to eastern Africa and to the Arabian Peninsula.

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

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the genus Edithcolea in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent subshrub”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (386 mm of 538 mm) falls in March to May and November to December. The temperature curve is flat, 3.1 °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

538 mm in the median year at the habitat, 386 mm of it March to May and November to December. Wettest month April at 119 mm, driest month July at 13 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 225 mm to 1,058 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 660 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 538 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: 35 to 42 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 28, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

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 10.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 15.9 °C in July and August (across the grid cells of the range 13.8 °C to 24.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.9 °C in March (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: 56 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 -139 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 genus Edithcolea in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent subshrub”. 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

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Edithcolea grandis through the yearWarmest month March, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest months July and August, mean nightly low 15.9 °C; 538 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.5°10°15°20°25°30°35°40°38.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER10.6° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 35–42RH 56–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 21 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 °C27 / 24–3228 / 25–3329 / 26–3228 / 25–3228 / 25–3227 / 24–3026 / 23–2927 / 24–2828 / 25–2928 / 25–3027 / 23–3026 / 23–31
Night °C19 / 14–2219 / 14–2219 / 15–2419 / 16–2519 / 15–2617 / 15–2616 / 14–2516 / 14–2417 / 14–2418 / 15–2319 / 14–2319 / 14–23
Rain mm29 / 4–5417 / 3–3852 / 5–101119 / 9–22775 / 25–15415 / 4–6213 / 2–5214 / 2–4117 / 6–3847 / 35–17968 / 25–21672 / 22–113
DLI39 / 32–4142 / 38–4442 / 39–4538 / 34–4638 / 29–4335 / 29–3835 / 28–3736 / 30–3838 / 37–4339 / 38–4136 / 34–3936 / 31–39
RH %57 / 53–6356 / 51–6357 / 53–6360 / 58–6462 / 57–6560 / 55–6459 / 54–6358 / 53–6457 / 51–6658 / 54–6563 / 57–6561 / 55–66
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 21 grid cells holding the 27 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 1870:4351 (-3.525, 37.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.0 °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 21 distinct grid cells holding 27 of the 27 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1870:4351 (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 -3.50_37.500, lapse-corrected -139 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 761 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.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the key of the name Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 3577469 (Edithcolea grandis N.E.Br., 67 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeDjibouti, Ethiopia, Socotra, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen · 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 marker0.154, 37.484 · in the densest population, 31 records (61% of those in range)
Kew's description“succulent subshrub” · “desert or dry shrubland” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 51 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 27 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 31 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 22 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. 24 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 3577469 (Edithcolea grandis N.E.Br.): Kew's file holds it as Edithcolea grandis N.E.Br. (accepted); 67 records, from GBIF's download.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 51 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Edithcolea grandis, photograph 1did not loadEdithcolea grandis, photograph 2did not loadEdithcolea grandis, photograph 3did not loadEdithcolea grandis, photograph 4did not loadEdithcolea grandis, photograph 5did not loadEdithcolea grandis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (6).

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

Euphorbia bussei Euphorbia bussei Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, avocatCucumis dipsaceus Cucumis dipsaceus Hedgehog gourd Photo: CC BY, Gabriel M. RolimMelia volkensii Melia volkensii Meliaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, susan brownStreptocarpus teitensis Streptocarpus teitensis Gesneriaceae Photo: CC0, Daderot Kedrostis pseudogijef Cucurbitaceae Momordica rostrata Momordica rostrata Cucurbitaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated

Names & registers

Also known as Ceropegia sordida; Edithcolea grandis var. baylissiana; Edithcolea sordida. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Apocynaceae
Described by
N.E.Br.
Native to
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Socotra +5
Wild records
51 in range · 31 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
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Edithcolea grandis N.E.Br. (plant_name_id 505188), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 67 records of GBIF's key 3577469, Edithcolea grandis N.E.Br. (Kew's file holds it as Edithcolea grandis N.E.Br. (accepted)): the GBIF download
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -3.50_37.500, lapse-corrected -139 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 97342-1, POWO 97342-1
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22Wikipedia redirects Edithcolea grandis to Edithcolea, this species' genus (Q5338703), which holds one accepted species in Kew's WCVP
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
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 14 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…