Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.

Hesperocyparis benthamii (Endl.) Bartel

Cupressaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +3

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

Photographs not checked iNaturalist and GBIF media were 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
Coldest month, mean nightly low
6.3°C
Jan at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
23°C
Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,238mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–42DLI
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 October, 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

Hesperocyparis benthamii is a species of conifer in the cypress family, Cupressaceae. It is native to Mexico.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Hesperocyparis benthamii", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (953 mm of 1,247 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 16.4 °C against a yearly mean of 15.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Rain

1,247 mm in the median year at the habitat, 953 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 228 mm, driest months (2 at 25 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 635 mm to 2,727 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,238 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,247 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: 27 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 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 6.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 1.9 °C to 12.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 22.5 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 6.3 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, January, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 69% 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. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. 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 Hesperocyparis benthamii through the yearWarmest month April, mean daily high 23 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 6.3 °C; 1,247 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.0°5°10°15°20°25°30°35°°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 27–42RH 56–69%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 167 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C17 / 14–2419 / 15–2521 / 18–2723 / 19–2822 / 19–2921 / 18–2920 / 17–2721 / 17–2620 / 16–2619 / 16–2518 / 15–2418 / 14–24
Night °C6 / 2–127 / 3–138 / 4–1410 / 6–1612 / 8–1813 / 9–1912 / 8–1912 / 8–1912 / 8–1911 / 6–178 / 4–147 / 3–13
Rain mm27 / 11–6825 / 11–5825 / 9–5949 / 17–8689 / 38–186195 / 93–462208 / 110–448198 / 100–467228 / 111–513124 / 52–31749 / 13–10330 / 7–63
DLI28 / 23–3333 / 28–3839 / 34–4442 / 38–4741 / 39–4637 / 33–4237 / 34–4036 / 34–3932 / 29–3431 / 27–3429 / 25–3327 / 22–32
RH %58 / 52–6657 / 50–6456 / 48–6257 / 48–6261 / 52–6666 / 58–7066 / 61–7166 / 61–7069 / 63–7266 / 60–7061 / 55–6759 / 53–67

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, +1008 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum -9.0 °C, 1st-percentile night -0.9 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 167 grid cells holding the 227 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 1408:1659 (19.575, -97.025). 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 167 distinct grid cells holding 227 of the 227 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1408:1659 (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 19.50_-96.875, lapse-corrected +1008 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2141 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: 2684047 (Cupressus lusitanica var. benthamii (Endl.) Carrière, 619 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast · introduced: Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, Trinidad-Tobago · 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 marker19.721, -97.248 · in the densest population, 185 records (62% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 300 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 227 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 285 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 29 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 73 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 2684047 (Cupressus lusitanica var. benthamii (Endl.) Carrière): Kew's file holds it as Cupressus lusitanica var. benthamii (Endl.) Carrière (synonym under Hesperocyparis benthamii (Endl.) Bartel); 619 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 300 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 and GBIF media were skipped (not asked) when this page was built. 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.

Choisya ternata Choisya ternata Mexican orange Photo: CC BY, Holly HodgesAporocactus flagelliformis Aporocactus flagelliformis Rat-tail cactus Photo: CC BY, Peter QuakenbushSolanum aligerum Solanum aligerum Solanaceae Photo: CC BY, Juan Carlos Fonseca MataAporocactus martianus Aporocactus martianus Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Wolfgang AhlmerAlamania punicea Alamania punicea Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, harrierQuercus affinis Quercus affinis Fagaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez Marcial

Other Hesperocyparis 15 in the reference

Hesperocyparis abramsiana Cupressaceae Hesperocyparis arizonica Cupressaceae Hesperocyparis bakeri Cupressaceae Hesperocyparis forbesii Cupressaceae Hesperocyparis glabra Cupressaceae Hesperocyparis goveniana Cupressaceae Hesperocyparis guadalupensis Cupressaceae Hesperocyparis lusitanica Cupressaceae Hesperocyparis macnabiana Cupressaceae Hesperocyparis macrocarpa Cupressaceae Hesperocyparis montana Hesperocyparis montana Cupressaceae Photo: CC BY, Alan Rockefeller… Hesperocyparis nevadensis Cupressaceae all 16 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Callitropsis benthamii; Cupressus benthamii var. knightiana; Cupressus ehrenbergii; Cupressus knightiana; Cupressus lusitanica var. benthamii and 4 more. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Cupressaceae
Described by
(Endl.) Bartel
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +2
Wild records
300 in range · 285 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 Hesperocyparis benthamii (Endl.) Bartel (plant_name_id 457904), 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; 619 records of GBIF's key 2684047, Cupressus lusitanica var. benthamii (Endl.) Carrière (Kew's file holds it as Cupressus lusitanica var. benthamii (Endl.) Carrière (synonym under Hesperocyparis benthamii (Endl.) Bartel)): the GBIF download; 4 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 1 at a zoo; 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 19.50_-96.875, lapse-corrected +1008 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, +1008 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 60451549-2, POWO 60451549-2
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 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 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 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 72 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…