Species
+

Mussaenda philippica A.Rich.

Buddha's-lamp, Philippine mussaenda, queen of Philippines

Climate known 42 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Mussaenda philippica is a plant species in the family Rubiaceae that grows as a shrub or small tree. Native to the Philippines it is commonly grown elsewhere as an ornamental species.

Text from Wikipedia, “Mussaenda philippica”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Mussaenda

Mussaenda is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. They are native to the African and Asian tropics and subtropics. Several species are cultivated as ornamental plants.

Text from Wikipedia, “Mussaenda”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Rubiaceae
Described by
A.Rich.
Native to
Philippines
Wild records
163 in range· 82 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Apr, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2248mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jul 321 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–41DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, June to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.3 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 2248 mm a year, wettest July at 321 mm, driest February at 48 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 19.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, June to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.3 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1684 mm of 2248 mm) falls in June to November. The temperature curve is flat, 2.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2248 mm a year, wettest July at 321 mm, driest February at 48 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2248 mm a year at the habitat, 1684 mm of it June to November. Wettest month July at 321 mm, driest February at 48 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1749 mm to 3685 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 19.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 19.6 °C, the absolute minimum 16.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 23.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells 20.6 °C to 24.8 °C), warmest day 29.9 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 63 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Jan to 30 °C in Apr; mean night from 23 °C in Jan to 25 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2248 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 122 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 16.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.15°20°25°30°35°40°36.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)16.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 27–41RH 63–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 122 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 25–2827 / 25–2929 / 26–3130 / 27–3230 / 28–3229 / 27–3129 / 27–3029 / 27–3028 / 27–2928 / 27–2928 / 26–2927 / 25–28
Night °C23 / 21–2523 / 21–2524 / 21–2525 / 22–2625 / 23–2725 / 23–2625 / 23–2625 / 23–2625 / 22–2625 / 22–2624 / 22–2624 / 21–25
Rain mm75 / 17–37548 / 15–26053 / 18–21569 / 29–196173 / 123–279262 / 184–401321 / 183–502299 / 172–526303 / 179–424287 / 216–407212 / 115–467146 / 67–509
DLI28 / 26–3233 / 30–3638 / 35–4041 / 38–4338 / 35–3934 / 31–3732 / 30–3633 / 29–3732 / 29–3630 / 28–3429 / 26–3127 / 24–30
RH %65 / 61–7265 / 61–7064 / 60–7063 / 60–6965 / 62–7066 / 64–7267 / 64–7368 / 64–7368 / 64–7367 / 64–7367 / 63–7366 / 62–73

Each figure is the median across the 122 grid cells holding the 159 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1524:6021 (13.775, 121.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 16.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 122 distinct grid cells holding the 159 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1524:6021 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 14.00_121.250, lapse-corrected -120 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 42 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativePhilippines· introduced: Bangladesh, Thailand, Solomon Is., Caroline Is.
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker14.448, 121.007 · in the densest population, 76 records (47% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 163 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 82 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 19 km away. 1087 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 4 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 163 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Mussaenda philippicaMussaenda philippicaMussaenda philippicaMussaenda philippicaMussaenda philippicaMussaenda philippicaMussaenda philippicaMussaenda philippica

Photographs: (c) Mark Richman, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Aitor, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Jorjany R. Camaño. R, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Cheryl McCleary-Catalano, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Mussaenda philippica, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antiplasmodial activity and cytotoxicity of plant extracts from the Asteraceae and Rubiaceae families
Prapaporn Chaniad, Arisara Phuwajaroanpong, Tachpon Techarang, Parnpen Viriyavejakul (2022) · Heliyon
Antioxidant and toxicity properties of anthocyanin extracted from red flower of four tropical shrubs
Harlinda Kuspradini, ANINDYA MARSABELLA ROSIARTO, Agmi Sinta Putri, Irawan Wijaya Kusuma (2016) · Nusantara Bioscience
Evaluation of anticonvulsant activity of hydroalcoholic extract of Mussaenda philippica on animals
Durga Madhab Kar, SK Rout, Laxmidhar Moharana, Susruta Majumdar (2014) · Journal of Acute Disease
Antiulcer Property of Mussaenda philippica
Rasmita Jena, Durga Madhab Kar, Diptirani Rath, Kaushik Sur Roy (2019) · Pharmacognosy Journal
Response of Selected Ornamentals to Rooting Hormone in Different Propagating Media
Ibironke Okunlola A (2017) · Journal of Botany Research
Effects of Different Growth Media on Propagation of Horticultural Plant, Mussaenda philippica (Queen of Philippines)
S O Okanlawon, K. M. Babatunde, M. A. Salau, O. A. Adekanmbi (2016) · International Journal of Current Research in Biosciences and Plant Biology
Hepatoprotective activity of methanolic extract of Mussaenda philippica (stems) against anti-tubercular drugs induced hepatotoxicity
Swarnalatha Reddy Dugasani, Saleem T.S.M, Sowjanya Gummadi, C. Gopinath (2014) · Scholar Science Journals - International Journal of Biomedical Research
Micromorphological and Pharmacognostic Studies of Mussaenda philippica L. Flower
Romanus A. Umoh, Imoh I. Johnny, Nsima A. Andy, Anwanabasi E. Udoh (2023) · Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medical Research
Effect of Growth Media on Rooting of Queen of the Philippine (Mussaenda philippica A. Rich)
O M Olosunde, FO Olasantan, O. S. Olubode (2009) · Nigerian Journal of Horticultural Science

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Mussaenda 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 52 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.