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Melicytus crassifolius; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2026-09-26

Melicytus crassifolius (Hook.f.) Garn.-Jones

Thick Leaved Porcupine Plant

Violaceae · New Zealand North, New Zealand South

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Melicytus crassifolius (Hook.f.) Garn.-Jones: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Hook.fil.) Garn.-Jones.

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Melicytus crassifolius, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedMelicytus crassifolius, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedMelicytus crassifolius, photograph (c) Leon Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY)Melicytus crassifolius, photograph (c) Leon Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY)Melicytus crassifolius, photograph (c) Christopher Stephens, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Melicytus crassifolius, photograph (c) Michael Berardozzi, some rights reserved (CC BY) 73 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
5.4°C
Record low 3.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
18°C
Jan and Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,186mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
10–45DLI
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
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Melicytus crassifolius (thick-leaved mahoe; syn. Hymenanthera crassifolia Hook.f.) is an ornamental plant in the Violaceae family, which is native to New Zealand.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Melicytus crassifolius", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Melicytus

Melicytus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Violaceae. Hymenanthera is a synonym. It includes 19 species native to Australia, New Zealand, and the southwestern Pacific.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (888 mm of 1,202 mm) takes 8 months, March and May to November. Mean temperature moves 7.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: November to May and September.

Rain

1,202 mm in the median year at the habitat, 888 mm of it March and May to November. Wettest months (2 at 129 mm), driest month February at 68 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 821 mm to 1,521 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,186 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,202 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 45 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 9, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 5.4 °C, the absolute minimum 3.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 24.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 6.2 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 1.4 °C to 8.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 18.4 °C in January and February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 5.4 °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: 62 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 -184 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, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Melicytus crassifolius through the yearWarmest months January and February, mean daily high 18 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 6.2 °C; 1,202 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, southern hemisphere.0°5°10°15°20°25°30°24.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER3.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 10–45RH 62–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 93 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 °C18 / 17–2118 / 17–2117 / 16–1915 / 14–1613 / 11–1411 / 8–1210 / 8–1111 / 9–1212 / 11–1313 / 12–1515 / 14–1717 / 16–19
Night °C14 / 11–1514 / 11–1513 / 10–1411 / 7–139 / 5–117 / 2–106 / 1–97 / 2–98 / 4–109 / 6–1111 / 7–1213 / 10–14
Rain mm70 / 53–10868 / 54–9688 / 62–11288 / 60–124114 / 79–141129 / 81–160129 / 92–165126 / 90–15298 / 57–128111 / 71–15093 / 63–12588 / 61–129
DLI45 / 42–4638 / 36–3930 / 28–3120 / 19–2113 / 12–1410 / 9–1112 / 10–1317 / 15–1825 / 24–2634 / 32–3542 / 39–4344 / 42–45
RH %62 / 59–6562 / 60–6462 / 60–6463 / 61–6563 / 61–6563 / 61–6563 / 61–6563 / 61–6563 / 60–6562 / 60–6562 / 59–6462 / 59–65
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 93 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (356 records in those cells; 7 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are 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 2624:7104 (-41.225, 175.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 3.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 5.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 24.3 °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 93 distinct grid cells holding 356 of the 378 in-range records (7 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2624:7104 (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 -41.00_175.000, lapse-corrected -184 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2 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.
NativeNew Zealand North, New Zealand South · 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 marker-41.328, 174.825 · in the densest population, 406 records (86% of those in range)
Kew's description“temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 472 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 356 of them in the land cells it reads, of 378 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 336 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 10 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 94 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 8102587 (Hymenanthes crassifolia H.J.Veitch): Kew's file holds it as Hymenanthes crassifolia H.J.Veitch (orthographic under Melicytus crassifolius (Hook.f.) Garn.-Jones); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 472 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Melicytus crassifolius, photograph 1did not loadMelicytus crassifolius, photograph 2did not loadMelicytus crassifolius, photograph 3did not loadMelicytus crassifolius, photograph 4did not loadMelicytus crassifolius, photograph 5did not loadMelicytus crassifolius, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Leon Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Christopher Stephens, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Michael Berardozzi, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Linum monogynum Linum monogynum Linaceae Photo: CC BY, Joe DillonBrachyglottis greyi Brachyglottis greyi Asteraceae Photo: CC0, author not statedCoprosma acerosa Coprosma acerosa Sand coprosma Photo: CC BY, John BarklaSophora molloyi Sophora molloyi Cook Strait Kowhai Photo: CC BY, Leon PerrieVeronica parviflora Veronica parviflora Tree Hebe Photo: CC BY, Tom BeardAustroderia toetoe Austroderia toetoe Poaceae Photo: CC BY, Arnim Littek

Other Melicytus 12 in the reference

Melicytus alpinus Melicytus alpinus Porcupine Shrub Photo: CC0, author not statedMelicytus angustifolius Melicytus angustifolius Violaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedMelicytus chathamicus Melicytus chathamicus Chatham Island Māhoe Photo: CC BY, Liadan DickieMelicytus dentatus Melicytus dentatus Tree violet Photo: CC BY, krumpiankingMelicytus flexuosus Melicytus flexuosus Violaceae Photo: CC BY, Oscar DoveMelicytus lanceolatus Melicytus lanceolatus Narrow-leaved Māhoe Photo: CC BY, Angus CampbellMelicytus macrophyllus Melicytus macrophyllus Large-leaved Māhoe Photo: CC BY, Angus CampbellMelicytus micranthus Melicytus micranthus Manakura Photo: CC0, author not statedMelicytus novae-zelandiae Melicytus novae-zelandiae Coastal Mahoe Photo: CC0, author not statedMelicytus obovatus Melicytus obovatus Violaceae Photo: CC BY, Jon SullivanMelicytus orarius Melicytus orarius Cook Strait Māhoe Photo: CC BY, Michael BerardozziMelicytus ramiflorus Melicytus ramiflorus Whitey Wood Photo: CC BY, hazelvalerie

Names & registers

Also known as Hymenanthera crassifolia. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Violaceae
Described by
(Hook.f.) Garn.-Jones
Native to
New Zealand North, New Zealand South
Wild records
472 in range · 336 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 2026-10-22GBIF's key 4075210 is Melicytus crassifolius (Hook.fil.) Garn.-Jones; the page links Kew's Melicytus crassifolius (Hook.f.) Garn.-Jones, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
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 answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 0 records of GBIF's key 8102587, Hymenanthes crassifolia H.J.Veitch (Kew's file holds it as Hymenanthes crassifolia H.J.Veitch (orthographic under Melicytus crassifolius (Hook.f.) Garn.-Jones)): GBIF occurrence search API; 28 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (8 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 4 at a herbarium, 16 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 -41.00_175.000, lapse-corrected -184 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 13 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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