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Metrosideros stipularis; photograph Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BYDick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Metrosideros stipularis (Hook. & Arn.) Hook.f.

Myrtaceae · Argentina South, Chile Central +1

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

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Metrosideros stipularis, photograph Franz Xaver, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsMetrosideros stipularis, photograph Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsMetrosideros stipularis, photograph Pdassori, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsMetrosideros stipularis, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsMetrosideros stipularis, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsMetrosideros stipularis, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
2.6°C
Record low -0.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
17°C
Jan and Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,756mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
8–41DLI
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 winters: the rain comes October to April (April to October at the habitat), read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Metrosideros stipularis is a species of the myrtle family commonly known as tepú, trepú, or tepual. It is an evergreen tree or shrub that attains heights of about four to five metres. The plant is native to southern South America in the southern portions of Chile and Argentina and is a typical resident of very wet areas, especially in swamps and peat bogs and with gleyic soil horizons. Tepú has white flowers that emerge during the austral summer from December through April, but more commonly from Frebruary to March. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Metrosideros stipularis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Metrosideros

Metrosideros is a genus of approximately 60 trees, shrubs, and vines in the family Myrtaceae, mostly found in the Pacific region. Most of the tree forms are small, but some are exceptionally large, the New Zealand species in particular. The name derives from the Ancient Greek metra or "heartwood" and sideron or "iron". More on Wikipedia ›

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,061 mm of 2,710 mm) falls in April to October, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 8.2 °C against a yearly mean of 10.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: October to April.

Rain

2,710 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,061 mm of it April to October. Wettest month June at 406 mm, driest month February at 101 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,597 mm to 4,565 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,756 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,710 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: 8 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 6, the highest 90th-percentile month 49).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 2.6 °C, the absolute minimum -0.4 °C, 2 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 19.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 3.8 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range -1.7 °C to 6.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 17.1 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 2.6 °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: 63 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 -11 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 Metrosideros stipularis through the yearWarmest months January and February, mean daily high 17 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 3.8 °C; 2,710 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.-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°frost19.2° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-0.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 8–41RH 63–69%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 171 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 °C17 / 14–1917 / 15–1916 / 13–1713 / 10–1411 / 6–129 / 4–109 / 3–109 / 4–1010 / 7–1212 / 9–1413 / 11–1515 / 13–17
Night °C10 / 7–1211 / 7–1210 / 6–118 / 4–106 / 1–95 / -1–74 / -2–74 / -1–75 / 0–76 / 2–88 / 4–99 / 6–11
Rain mm115 / 69–280101 / 59–221155 / 90–310241 / 140–421359 / 200–554406 / 226–622340 / 190–501311 / 178–458211 / 130–349193 / 113–334151 / 86–289127 / 75–307
DLI41 / 34–4936 / 30–4226 / 22–3116 / 13–2010 / 8–128 / 6–99 / 7–1114 / 11–1621 / 19–2430 / 27–3437 / 32–4241 / 35–48
RH %63 / 60–6663 / 59–6665 / 61–6767 / 64–6968 / 65–7169 / 65–7167 / 64–7067 / 64–6965 / 63–6765 / 62–6864 / 61–6764 / 61–66
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 171 grid cells holding the 294 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 2691:2115 (-44.575, -74.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 2.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 19.2 °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 171 distinct grid cells holding 294 of the 294 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2691:2115 (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 -44.50_-74.375, lapse-corrected -11 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 81 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: 3188365 (Tepualia stipularis (Hook.fil.) Griseb., 468 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeArgentina South, Chile Central, Chile 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-41.384, -72.643 · in the densest population, 227 records (61% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 372 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 294 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 101 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 37 km away. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 78 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 3188365 (Tepualia stipularis (Hook.fil.) Griseb.): Kew's file holds it as Tepualia stipularis (Hook. & Arn.) Griseb. (synonym under Metrosideros stipularis (Hook. & Arn.) Hook.f.); 468 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 372 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Metrosideros stipularis, photograph 1did not loadMetrosideros stipularis, photograph 2did not loadMetrosideros stipularis, photograph 3did not loadMetrosideros stipularis, photograph 4did not loadMetrosideros stipularis, photograph 5did not loadMetrosideros stipularis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Franz Xaver, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Pdassori, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (3).

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

Luzuriaga polyphylla Luzuriaga polyphylla Alstroemeriaceae Photo: CC BY, Bruno AvilezGriselinia racemosa Griselinia racemosa Griseliniaceae Photo: CC BY, Pablo SilvaHymenophyllum cruentum Hymenophyllum cruentum Hymenophyllaceae Photo: CC BY, Ezequiel RackerSticherus squamulosus Sticherus squamulosus Gleicheniaceae Photo: CC BY, Cody HinchliffLomatia ferruginea Lomatia ferruginea Proteaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Clara (Clari)Mitraria coccinea Mitraria coccinea Chilean Mitre Flower Photo: CC BY, Cesar Ormazabal

Other Metrosideros 20 in the reference

Metrosideros albiflora Metrosideros albiflora White Flowering Rātā Photo: CC BY, Hannah Whittall Metrosideros angustifolia Myrtaceae Metrosideros bartlettii Metrosideros bartlettii Bartlett's rata Photo: CC0, author not statedMetrosideros carminea Metrosideros carminea Crimson rata Photo: CC BY, Chris ParminterMetrosideros colensoi Metrosideros colensoi Myrtaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedMetrosideros collina Metrosideros collina Vunga Photo: CC BY, Mike BowieMetrosideros diffusa Metrosideros diffusa Small ratavine Photo: CC BY, 大澤風季 ohsawa_FukiMetrosideros excelsa Metrosideros excelsa New Zealand Christmastree Photo: CC BY, Leon PerrieMetrosideros fulgens Metrosideros fulgens Scarlet rātā vine Photo: CC BY, Stephen HartleyMetrosideros kermadecensis Metrosideros kermadecensis Pohutukawa Photo: CC0, author not statedMetrosideros laurifolia Metrosideros laurifolia Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY, Rosario DouglasMetrosideros nervulosa Metrosideros nervulosa Mountain Rose Photo: CC BY, Leon Perrie all 21 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Myrtus stipularis; Nania stipularis; Tepualia stipularis var. patagonica; Tepualia patagonica; Tepualia stipularis var. philippiana and 3 more. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Myrtaceae
Described by
(Hook. & Arn.) Hook.f.
Native to
Argentina South, Chile Central, Chile South
Wild records
372 in range · 101 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 Metrosideros stipularis (Hook. & Arn.) Hook.f. (plant_name_id 126571), 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; 468 records of GBIF's key 3188365, Tepualia stipularis (Hook.fil.) Griseb. (Kew's file holds it as Tepualia stipularis (Hook. & Arn.) Griseb. (synonym under Metrosideros stipularis (Hook. & Arn.) Hook.f.)): the GBIF download; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a botanic garden or arboretum; 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 -44.50_-74.375, lapse-corrected -11 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 598328-1, POWO 598328-1
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 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 25 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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