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Heliconia mucilagina Abalo & G.Morales

Heliconiaceae · Colombia · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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.
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Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
17.3°C
Record low 14.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Feb, Mar, Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
6,004mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
20–25DLI
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
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 7 records in 7 grid cells. The records.

About the genus · Heliconia

Heliconia is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku in Indonesia. Many species of Heliconia are found in the tropical forests of these regions. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Heliconia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “rhizomatous geophyte”, “wet tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (4,321 mm of 5,847 mm) takes 8 months, April to November. Mean temperature moves 0.6 °C between the warmest and coldest month. 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

5,847 mm in the median year at the habitat, 4,321 mm of it April to November. Wettest month September at 598 mm, driest month February at 302 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 4,778 mm to 7,981 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 6,004 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 5,847 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: 20 to 25 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 27).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 17.3 °C, the absolute minimum 14.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 19.9 °C in October and November (across the grid cells of the range 16.2 °C to 22.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.2 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 17.3 °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: 74 to 77% 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 -121 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 Heliconia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “rhizomatous geophyte”, “wet tropical”. 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

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 7 records in 7 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Heliconia mucilagina through the yearWarmest months February, March, April and May, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest months October and November, mean nightly low 19.9 °C; 5,847 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.10°15°20°25°30°35°30.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER14.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter02004006008001000mm rainDLI 20–25RH 74–77%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 7 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 °C24 / 22–2725 / 22–2825 / 22–2825 / 22–2825 / 22–2724 / 21–2724 / 21–2724 / 22–2724 / 21–2724 / 21–2724 / 21–2724 / 21–27
Night °C20 / 16–2220 / 16–2220 / 17–2221 / 17–2320 / 17–2320 / 17–2220 / 16–2220 / 16–2220 / 16–2220 / 16–2220 / 16–2220 / 16–22
Rain mm338 / 292–553302 / 264–465395 / 354–519519 / 444–676572 / 463–769493 / 352–696512 / 361–721553 / 413–760598 / 445–762548 / 451–820526 / 434–741491 / 366–629
DLI22 / 21–2424 / 23–2625 / 22–2724 / 19–2622 / 16–2421 / 15–2322 / 16–2522 / 17–2522 / 17–2422 / 17–2320 / 17–2120 / 19–22
RH %76 / 72–7775 / 71–7674 / 71–7675 / 71–7675 / 71–7775 / 71–7775 / 71–7775 / 72–7676 / 71–7876 / 71–7877 / 72–7876 / 73–77
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 7 grid cells holding the 7 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 1702:2074 (4.875, -76.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 14.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 17.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.1 °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 7 distinct grid cells holding 7 of the 7 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1702:2074 (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 5.00_-76.250, lapse-corrected -121 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 898 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.
NativeColombia · 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 marker5.417, -76.467 · in the densest population, 12 records (86% of those in range)
Kew's description“rhizomatous geophyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 14 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 7 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 9 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 54 km away. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 7 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 14 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.

Costus leucanthus Costus leucanthus Costaceae Photo: CC BY, Michael Bakker Paiva Pleurothallis tridentata Orchidaceae Neomortonia rosea Neomortonia rosea Gesneriaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedMasdevallia zahlbruckneri Masdevallia zahlbruckneri Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, OrchiColumnea angustata Columnea angustata Gesneriaceae Photo: CC BY, portioidAnthurium cuspidatum Anthurium cuspidatum Araceae Photo: CC BY, Kai Squires

Other Heliconia 63 in the reference

Heliconia acuminata Heliconia acuminata False Bird-of-paradise Photo: CC BY, Cody HinchliffHeliconia aemygdiana Heliconia aemygdiana Heliconiaceae Photo: CC BY, Alan RockefellerHeliconia angusta Heliconia angusta Christmas Heliconia Photo: CC0, author not stated Heliconia atratensis Heliconiaceae Heliconia aurantiaca Heliconia aurantiaca Heliconiaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedHeliconia bihai Heliconia bihai Macaw-flower Photo: CC0, author not statedHeliconia bourgaeana Heliconia bourgaeana Heliconiaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedHeliconia burleana Heliconia burleana Heliconiaceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel MesaHeliconia caribaea Heliconia caribaea Lobsterclaw Photo: CC BY, Guillaume DelaitreHeliconia chartacea Heliconia chartacea Pink flamingo heliconia Photo: CC BY, AidanHeliconia collinsiana Heliconia collinsiana Heliconiaceae Photo: CC BY, Nico CarlHeliconia curtispatha Heliconia curtispatha Heliconiaceae Photo: CC BY, nuthatchnicole all 64 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidata

The record

Family
Heliconiaceae
Described by
Abalo & G.Morales
Native to
Colombia
Wild records
14 in range · 9 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
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 5.00_-76.250, lapse-corrected -121 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Heliconia mucilagina Abalo & G.Morales (the item's: IPNI 900047-1, POWO 119422-2)
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
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 7 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…