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Elatostema reticulatum; photograph (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) CC BY-SA(c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-13

Elatostema reticulatum Wedd.

Rainforest Spinach

Urticaceae · Solomon Is., New South Wales +1

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Elatostema reticulatum, photograph (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Elatostema reticulatum, photograph (c) Bryce Watts-Parker, some rights reserved (CC BY)Elatostema reticulatum, photograph (c) Bryce Watts-Parker, some rights reserved (CC BY)Elatostema reticulatum, photograph (c) Bryce Watts-Parker, some rights reserved (CC BY)Elatostema reticulatum, photograph (c) Bryce Watts-Parker, some rights reserved (CC BY)Elatostema reticulatum, photograph (c) Todd Huang, some rights reserved (CC BY) 62 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
2.3°C
Record low -0.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
Jan at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,242mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
19–41DLI
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
Wet summers: the rain comes May to November (November to May at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Elatostema reticulatum, commonly known as rainforest spinach, is a plant in the nettle family Urticaceae endemic to eastern areas of Queensland and New South Wales. It is a course straggly herb growing to 50–100 cm (20–39 in) high, and may form dense mats on the forest floor. It prefers wet shaded areas in rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest, and is often found in and beside streams as well as on wet rock faces. The natural range of the plant is from near Batemans Bay in the south to the ranges and tablelands near Cairns in the north.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Elatostema reticulatum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (912 mm of 1,242 mm) falls in November to May, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 18.2 °C against a yearly mean of 15.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to November.

Rain

1,242 mm in the median year at the habitat, 912 mm of it November to May. Wettest month February at 172 mm, driest months (3 at 55 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 952 mm to 1,726 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,242 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,242 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 41 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 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 2.3 °C, the absolute minimum -0.5 °C, 4 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 4.9 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 2.4 °C to 9.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.0 °C in January (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 2.3 °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 65% 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 -86 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, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Elatostema reticulatum through the yearWarmest month January, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 4.9 °C; 1,242 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, southern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost35.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-0.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 19–41RH 56–65%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 391 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 °C26 / 24–2825 / 23–2723 / 21–2521 / 18–2318 / 15–2015 / 12–1815 / 11–1816 / 13–1920 / 17–2222 / 19–2524 / 21–2625 / 23–27
Night °C17 / 14–2017 / 14–2015 / 12–1912 / 9–169 / 6–146 / 4–115 / 2–106 / 3–108 / 6–1311 / 8–1513 / 10–1715 / 13–19
Rain mm145 / 91–203172 / 118–252134 / 85–215106 / 71–17491 / 67–14876 / 50–11055 / 42–8555 / 38–7355 / 39–7289 / 72–114120 / 97–151144 / 97–192
DLI40 / 39–4135 / 34–3631 / 29–3326 / 23–2720 / 18–2219 / 15–2021 / 17–2227 / 23–2834 / 31–3538 / 36–3939 / 38–4141 / 40–42
RH %63 / 60–6665 / 62–6864 / 62–6763 / 61–6562 / 61–6461 / 59–6358 / 57–6156 / 55–5856 / 54–5857 / 56–6060 / 58–6361 / 59–64
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 391 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (856 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 2409:6649 (-30.475, 152.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 2.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.4 °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 391 distinct grid cells holding 856 of the 857 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2409:6649 (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 -30.50_152.500, lapse-corrected -86 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 472 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.
NativeSolomon Is., New South Wales, Queensland · 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 marker-28.278, 153.27 · in the densest population, 437 records (47% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial or subshrub” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 926 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 856 of them in the land cells it reads, of 857 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 711 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 95 km away. 22 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 69 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 926 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Elatostema reticulatum, photograph 1did not loadElatostema reticulatum, photograph 2did not loadElatostema reticulatum, photograph 3did not loadElatostema reticulatum, photograph 4did not loadElatostema reticulatum, photograph 5did not loadElatostema reticulatum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Bryce Watts-Parker, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Todd Huang, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Ackama paniculosa Ackama paniculosa Brown Alder Photo: CC BY, Samuel FrankelPennantia cunninghamii Pennantia cunninghamii Brown beech Photo: CC BY, Samuel FrankelDictymia brownii Dictymia brownii Strap fern Photo: CC BY-SA, Greg TasneyLomandra spicata Lomandra spicata Jungle mat rush Photo: CC0, author not statedSarcochilus hartmannii Sarcochilus hartmannii Hartman's Sarcochilus Photo: CC BY-SA, Lachlan CopelandDendrobium mortii Dendrobium mortii Slender Pencil Orchid Photo: CC BY, Samuel Frankel

Other Elatostema 6 in the reference

Elatostema cyrtandrifolium Elatostema cyrtandrifolium Urticaceae Photo: CC BY, 黃美滿Elatostema involucratum Elatostema involucratum Urticaceae Photo: CC BY, りなべるElatostema lineolatum Elatostema lineolatum Large lineolate Elatostema Photo: CC BY, portioidElatostema radicans Elatostema radicans Urticaceae Photo: CC BY, 胡正恆(Jackson Hu)Elatostema rugosum Elatostema rugosum Urticaceae Photo: CC BY, Michael BerardozziElatostema sessile Elatostema sessile Urticaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Yercaud-elango

Names & registers

Also known as Elatostema reticulatum var. glabrum; Elatostema reticulatum var. minus; Elatostema reticulatum var. pubescenti-hirta; Elatostema reticulatum var. sessile. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Urticaceae
Described by
Wedd.
Native to
Solomon Is., New South Wales, Queensland
Wild records
926 in range · 711 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; 5 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (5 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 -30.50_152.500, lapse-corrected -86 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 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 23 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…