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An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Lippia dulcis; photograph (c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2022-10-18

Lippia dulcis Trevir.

Aztec Sweet Herb

Verbenaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +15

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Lippia dulcis, photograph (c) Douglas Caro Lopez, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lippia dulcis, photograph (c) Douglas Caro Lopez, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lippia dulcis, photograph (c) Douglas Caro Lopez, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lippia dulcis, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedLippia dulcis, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedLippia dulcis, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 35 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
10.0°C
Record low 6.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,469mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–41DLI
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 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

Lippia dulcis (syn. Phyla dulcis) is a species of perennial herbaceous plant that is native to southern Mexico, the Caribbean (Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico), Central America, Colombia, and Venezuela. It is known by several common names, including Aztec sweet herb, bushy lippia, honeyherb, hierba dulce, and tzopelic-xihuitl (Nahuatl). Its buds are also sold as dushi or dulce (sweet in Papiamento and Spanish respectively) buttons.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Lippia dulcis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Lippia

Lippia is a genus of flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. It was named after Augustin Lippi (1678–1705), a French-Italian naturalist and botanist. The genus contains roughly 200 species of tropical shrubs that are found around the world. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,097 mm of 1,460 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.9 °C against a yearly mean of 22.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Rain

1,460 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,097 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 268 mm, driest month March at 33 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 870 mm to 2,740 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,469 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,460 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: 25 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 22, 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 10.0 °C, the absolute minimum 6.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 14.5 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 9.5 °C to 19.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.4 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 10.0 °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: 60 to 67% 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 -115 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 Lippia dulcis through the yearWarmest months April and May, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 14.5 °C; 1,460 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.5°10°15°20°25°30°35°40°35.2° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER6.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 25–41RH 60–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 214 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 / 19–2825 / 21–2927 / 23–3129 / 24–3329 / 24–3428 / 23–3228 / 22–3228 / 22–3227 / 22–3126 / 21–2926 / 20–2924 / 20–28
Night °C15 / 10–2015 / 10–2017 / 11–2118 / 13–2320 / 14–2420 / 15–2520 / 14–2420 / 14–2420 / 14–2419 / 13–2317 / 11–2215 / 10–20
Rain mm40 / 9–11635 / 9–10533 / 6–8947 / 6–130102 / 38–252222 / 127–352226 / 139–386222 / 135–376268 / 147–439159 / 73–32962 / 16–20344 / 8–166
DLI27 / 22–3431 / 27–3837 / 32–4441 / 35–4840 / 36–4637 / 31–4137 / 33–4236 / 33–4132 / 29–3730 / 27–3427 / 24–3325 / 22–32
RH %63 / 52–6862 / 51–6760 / 49–6660 / 48–6662 / 52–6766 / 60–7066 / 60–7166 / 60–7167 / 62–7266 / 60–7164 / 56–6964 / 54–69
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 214 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (249 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 1464:1734 (16.775, -93.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 6.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 10.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.2 °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 214 distinct grid cells holding 249 of the 250 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1464:1734 (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 17.00_-93.125, lapse-corrected -115 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 920 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.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia · 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 marker19.767, -96.817 · in the densest population, 159 records (38% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 415 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 249 of them in the land cells it reads, of 250 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 365 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 26 km away. 22 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 165 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 415 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Lippia dulcis, photograph 1did not loadLippia dulcis, photograph 2did not loadLippia dulcis, photograph 3did not loadLippia dulcis, photograph 4did not loadLippia dulcis, photograph 5did not loadLippia dulcis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Douglas Caro Lopez, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3).

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

Bidens reptans Bidens reptans Manzanilla trepador Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezTillandsia schiedeana Tillandsia schiedeana Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, José Javier Barrios FloresSyngonium neglectum Syngonium neglectum Contzontón Photo: CC BY-SA, alessandradaliaPseudogynoxys chenopodioides Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides Mexican flamevine Photo: CC0, author not stated Echeveria canaliculata Crassulaceae Spermacoce tenuior Spermacoce tenuior River False Buttonweed Photo: CC BY, Liliana Ramírez-Freire

Other Lippia 11 in the reference

Lippia alba Lippia alba Bushy lippia Photo: CC0, author not statedLippia fastigiata Lippia fastigiata Verbenaceae Photo: CC BY, Jose Luis Leon de la LuzLippia formosa Lippia formosa Verbenaceae Photo: CC BY, MarvalPhotography19Lippia hirsuta Lippia hirsuta Verbenaceae Photo: CC BY, Nicolás Baresch UribeLippia javanica Lippia javanica Lemonbush Photo: CC BY, Wynand UysLippia micromera Lippia micromera Spanish thyme Photo: CC BY-SA, Dairon Cuevas RiverasLippia origanoides Lippia origanoides Mexican-sage Photo: CC BY, Ulises PinedoLippia scaberrima Lippia scaberrima Verbenaceae Photo: CC BY, Justin PonderLippia stoechadifolia Lippia stoechadifolia Southern frogfruit Photo: CC BY, Josiah LonderéeLippia turbinata Lippia turbinata Verbenaceae Photo: CC BY, Luis Martin StivanelloLippia umbellata Lippia umbellata Verbenaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López Hernández

Names & registers

Also known as Lippia asperifolia; Lippia dulcis var. mexicana; Phyla dulcis; Phyla dulcus; Phyla scaberrima and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Verbenaceae
Described by
Trevir.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +14
Wild records
415 in range · 365 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; 12 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (9 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 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 17.00_-93.125, lapse-corrected -115 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 74 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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