Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Lindernia rotundifolia; photograph (c) James Hardee, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) James Hardee, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-21

Lindernia rotundifolia (L.) Alston

Baby’s Tears

Linderniaceae · Comoros, Mauritius +6

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Lindernia rotundifolia, photograph (c) James Hardee, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lindernia rotundifolia, photograph (c) James Hardee, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lindernia rotundifolia, photograph (c) James Hardee, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lindernia rotundifolia, photograph (c) James Hardee, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lindernia rotundifolia, photograph (c) James Hardee, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lindernia rotundifolia, photograph (c) DV, some rights reserved (CC BY) 93 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
13.9°C
Record low 11.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
32°C
Mar at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,383mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
26–40DLI
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
Wet summers: the rain comes June to October (the habitat's months, not shifted), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,689 mm of 2,351 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.6 °C against a yearly mean of 26.0 °C). 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

2,351 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,689 mm of it June to October. Wettest month July at 420 mm, driest month January at 19 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,485 mm to 3,358 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,383 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,351 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: 26 to 40 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 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 13.9 °C, the absolute minimum 11.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 17.4 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 11.2 °C to 23.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.5 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.9 °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: 57 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. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -62 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, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Lindernia rotundifolia through the yearWarmest month March, mean daily high 32 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 17.4 °C; 2,351 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°40°36.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER11.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter02004006008001000mm rainDLI 26–40RH 57–69%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 48 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 °C28 / 23–3130 / 25–3332 / 29–3431 / 29–3631 / 28–3529 / 25–3428 / 25–3228 / 25–3129 / 26–3129 / 26–3028 / 25–3028 / 23–31
Night °C17 / 11–2318 / 14–2420 / 17–2524 / 19–2625 / 20–2625 / 20–2625 / 19–2624 / 19–2624 / 19–2522 / 18–2521 / 17–2418 / 13–24
Rain mm19 / 5–9529 / 5–7854 / 14–129135 / 45–252217 / 84–334366 / 122–710420 / 79–869351 / 65–602262 / 120–367290 / 88–371173 / 11–34135 / 8–146
DLI34 / 26–3739 / 32–4040 / 37–4238 / 36–4333 / 31–4029 / 24–3326 / 22–3428 / 24–3531 / 26–3530 / 27–3429 / 26–3131 / 25–33
RH %58 / 53–6257 / 52–6160 / 50–6263 / 53–6766 / 58–7268 / 63–7669 / 66–7568 / 65–7467 / 65–7467 / 61–7266 / 55–6761 / 53–64

Records on both sides of the equator: the 14 cells at least 10° south of it have seasons six months apart and are left out, not combined into a year no place has. These figures are across the 48 cells that remain: the 27 at least 10° north and the 21 within 10° of the equator, which stay in either way.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 48 grid cells holding the 53 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 1600:5140 (9.975, 77.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.6 °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 48 distinct grid cells holding 53 of the 67 in-range records on the northern side of the equator (27 cells poleward of 10° north, 14 poleward of 10° south: the two sides' seasons are not combined, and cells within 10° of the equator stay in); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1600:5140 (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 10.00_76.875, lapse-corrected -62 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 649 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.
NativeComoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, Réunion, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka · introduced: Myanmar, Queensland, Fiji, Hawaii · 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 marker9.755, 76.357 · in the densest population, 37 records (36% of those in range)
Kew's description“annual or subshrub” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 103 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 53 of them in the land cells it reads, of 67 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 59 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3946 km away. 718 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 36 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 inside the densest 2° block of the 103 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Lindernia rotundifolia, photograph 1did not loadLindernia rotundifolia, photograph 2did not loadLindernia rotundifolia, photograph 3did not loadLindernia rotundifolia, photograph 4did not loadLindernia rotundifolia, photograph 5did not loadLindernia rotundifolia, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) James Hardee, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) DV, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Mesua ferrea Mesua ferrea Indian Rose Chestnut Photo: CC BY, rajesh rockyAlbizia procera Albizia procera Tall albizia Photo: CC BY, Cricket RaspetFicus hispida Ficus hispida Hairy fig Photo: CC BY-SA, Vikas D PrasadClerodendrum schmidtii Clerodendrum schmidtii Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Oleg KosterinCrateva religiosa Crateva religiosa Sacred garlic pear Photo: CC BY, P JeganathanMallotus nudiflorus Mallotus nudiflorus False White Teak Photo: CC BY-SA, Dinesh Valke

Other Lindernia 3 in the reference

Lindernia dubia Lindernia dubia Moist-bank-pimpernel Photo: CC BY, Jason GrantLindernia grandiflora Lindernia grandiflora Savannah false pimpernel Photo: CC BY, James HardeeLindernia hyssopioides Lindernia hyssopioides Linderniaceae Photo: CC BY, Afsar Nayakkan

Names & registers

Also known as Bonnaya rotundifolia; Gratiola rotundifolia; Ilysanthes hypericifolia; Ilysanthes madagascariensis; Ilysanthes oblongifolia and 5 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Kew accepts as species of their own Lindernia microcalyx; Lindernia oblongifolia: older names in GBIF's record of this species that Kew's World Checklist accepts as other species. (WCVP, RBG Kew, file of 2026-06-04)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Linderniaceae
Described by
(L.) Alston
Native to
Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar +5
Wild records
103 in range · 59 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; 54 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (38 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 9 at a herbarium, 7 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 10.00_76.875, lapse-corrected -62 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 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 62 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…