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Escontria chiotilla; photograph Rosario, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BYRosario, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Escontria chiotilla (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) Rose

Cactaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Southwest · listed by its family as a cactus or succulent

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

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Escontria chiotilla, photograph Amante Darmanin, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEscontria chiotilla, photograph Amante Darmanin from Malta, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEscontria chiotilla, photograph Amante Darmanin from Malta, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEscontria chiotilla, photograph Frank Sengpiel, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEscontria chiotilla, photograph Rosario, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEscontria chiotilla, photograph Obed Palagot Echavarria, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 9 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
7.9°C
Record low 2.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
684mm
6 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
31–46DLI
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 June to September, 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

Escontria is a genus of cactus. The only species is Escontria chiotilla, the chiotilla or jiotilla.

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

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the family Cactaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent shrub”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (519 mm of 688 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 22.1 °C against a yearly mean of 21.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Rain

688 mm in the median year at the habitat, 519 mm of it June to September. Wettest month June at 140 mm, driest month December at 6 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 541 mm to 1,021 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 684 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 688 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: 31 to 46 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 48).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 7.9 °C, the absolute minimum 2.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 11.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 7.6 °C to 16.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 30.3 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 7.9 °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: 53 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 -286 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 family Cactaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent shrub”. 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 Escontria chiotilla through the yearWarmest months April and May, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 11.8 °C; 688 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.0°10°20°30°40°37.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER2.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 31–46RH 53–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 102 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 °C25 / 21–2927 / 23–3129 / 25–3330 / 27–3430 / 26–3427 / 23–3126 / 22–3126 / 23–3126 / 22–2925 / 22–2925 / 22–3025 / 21–29
Night °C12 / 8–1613 / 8–1714 / 10–1816 / 12–2017 / 13–2117 / 13–2116 / 12–2117 / 12–2117 / 13–2115 / 11–2014 / 10–1813 / 8–17
Rain mm8 / 5–188 / 5–169 / 5–1419 / 11–3055 / 38–69140 / 117–176127 / 89–191122 / 90–171130 / 97–18653 / 38–8711 / 8–356 / 3–21
DLI33 / 30–3538 / 35–4044 / 41–4546 / 44–4844 / 43–4539 / 37–4140 / 38–4239 / 37–4135 / 33–3734 / 32–3633 / 30–3531 / 28–33
RH %56 / 49–5955 / 49–5853 / 47–5654 / 47–5657 / 50–5961 / 56–6562 / 55–6562 / 55–6563 / 58–6762 / 55–6559 / 52–6257 / 50–60
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 102 grid cells holding the 195 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 1466:1673 (16.675, -96.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 2.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.0 °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 102 distinct grid cells holding 195 of the 195 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1466:1673 (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 16.50_-96.250, lapse-corrected -286 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1154 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: 8659284 (Myrtillocactus chiotilla (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) P.V.Heath, 260 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeMexico Central, Mexico Southwest · 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 marker18.077, -97.086 · in the densest population, 211 records (95% of those in range)
Kew's description“succulent shrub” · “desert or dry shrubland” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 223 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 195 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 137 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 28 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 8659284 (Myrtillocactus chiotilla (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) P.V.Heath): Kew's file holds it as Myrtillocactus chiotilla (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) P.V.Heath (synonym under Escontria chiotilla (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) Rose); 260 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 of the 223 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Escontria chiotilla, photograph 1did not loadEscontria chiotilla, photograph 2did not loadEscontria chiotilla, photograph 3did not loadEscontria chiotilla, photograph 4did not loadEscontria chiotilla, photograph 5did not loadEscontria chiotilla, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Amante Darmanin, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Amante Darmanin from Malta, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2); Frank Sengpiel, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Rosario, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Obed Palagot Echavarria, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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

Bursera morelensis Bursera morelensis Burseraceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialTillandsia circinnatioides Tillandsia circinnatioides Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezCephalocereus columna-trajani Cephalocereus columna-trajani Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedAgave macroacantha Agave macroacantha Black-spined agave Photo: CC0, author not statedLemaireocereus hollianus Lemaireocereus hollianus Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Peter A. MansfeldCephalocereus tetetzo Cephalocereus tetetzo Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated

Names & registers

Also known as Myrtillocactus chiotilla f. spiralis; Myrtillocactus chiotilla; Cereus chiotilla. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
(F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) Rose
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Southwest
Wild records
223 in range · 137 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 Escontria chiotilla (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) Rose (plant_name_id 2802296), 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; 260 records of GBIF's key 8659284, Myrtillocactus chiotilla (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) P.V.Heath (Kew's file holds it as Myrtillocactus chiotilla (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) P.V.Heath (synonym under Escontria chiotilla (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) Rose)): the GBIF download; 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 16.50_-96.250, lapse-corrected -286 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 97551-2, POWO 97551-2
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22Wikipedia redirects Escontria chiotilla to Escontria, this species' genus (Q8177730), 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 24 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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