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An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Neptunia oleracea; photograph Kurt Stüber, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAKurt Stüber, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Neptunia oleracea Lour.

Fabaceae · Benin, Burkina +77

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

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Neptunia oleracea, photograph KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNeptunia oleracea, photograph KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNeptunia oleracea, photograph C T Johansson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNeptunia oleracea, photograph C T Johansson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNeptunia oleracea, photograph Ito Y, Barfod A, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNeptunia oleracea, photograph Mokkie, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
14.6°C
Record low 11.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
32°C
Mar and Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,235mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
31–39DLI
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
A sharp rainy season, May to October (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Neptunia oleracea (not to be confused with Neptunia plena) is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae. It is sometimes referred to in English by the common names water mimosa or sensitive neptunia. It is pantropical nitrogen-fixing perennial legume. Genus and common name come from Neptune, god of the sea, in reference to the aquatic habit of some species in the genus.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Neptunia oleracea", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (890 mm of 1,138 mm) falls in May to October. 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. 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

1,138 mm in the median year at the habitat, 890 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 175 mm, driest month January at 20 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 512 mm to 2,325 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,235 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,138 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: 31 to 39 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 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 14.6 °C, the absolute minimum 11.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 42.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 21.1 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 16.2 °C to 24.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.7 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.6 °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: 60 to 66% 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 -43 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 Neptunia oleracea through the yearWarmest months March and April, mean daily high 32 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 21.1 °C; 1,138 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°20°30°40°50°42.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER11.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 31–39RH 60–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 269 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 °C30 / 27–3331 / 27–3432 / 28–3732 / 29–3831 / 28–3830 / 28–3630 / 27–3330 / 27–3230 / 28–3330 / 28–3530 / 28–3530 / 27–33
Night °C21 / 16–2422 / 18–2523 / 19–2524 / 20–2625 / 20–2624 / 20–2624 / 19–2524 / 19–2524 / 20–2523 / 21–2522 / 20–2522 / 17–24
Rain mm20 / 1–19529 / 1–16245 / 1–22263 / 2–217116 / 7–266160 / 8–293147 / 15–297167 / 11–303175 / 17–326125 / 17–29157 / 1–20734 / 0–188
DLI34 / 26–3836 / 30–4038 / 33–4439 / 30–4735 / 27–4633 / 26–4133 / 26–4234 / 26–4033 / 28–4132 / 29–4131 / 27–4031 / 25–38
RH %61 / 38–6560 / 38–6560 / 39–6660 / 44–6762 / 48–6964 / 51–6964 / 54–6865 / 54–6866 / 54–6965 / 50–6964 / 44–6862 / 39–67
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 269 grid cells holding the 337 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 1436:1746 (18.175, -92.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 42.1 °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 269 distinct grid cells holding 337 of the 337 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1436:1746 (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 18.00_-92.500, lapse-corrected -43 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1 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 keys of the names Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 5353533 (Neptunia oleracea Lour., 1077 records), 5353535 (Desmanthus natans Willd., 1 record), 7570827 (Neptunia natans W.Theob., 106 records), 8365372 (Mimosa natans Vahl, 1 record). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeBenin, Burkina, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Zaïre, Chad, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Provinces, Madagascar, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Laccadive Is., Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil North · introduced: Angola, Arkansas · 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 marker6.52, 2.404 · in the densest population, 119 records (17% of those in range)
Kew's description“hydrosubshrub” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 718 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 337 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 586 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 26 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 381 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 5353533 (Neptunia oleracea Lour.): Kew's file holds it as Neptunia oleracea Lour. (accepted); 1,077 records, from GBIF's download.Records also from GBIF's key 5353535 (Desmanthus natans Willd.): Kew's file holds it as Desmanthus natans Willd. (illegitimate under Neptunia oleracea Lour.); 1 record, from GBIF's download.Records also from GBIF's key 7570827 (Neptunia natans W.Theob.): Kew's file holds it as Neptunia natans W.Theob. (illegitimate under Neptunia oleracea Lour.); 106 records, from GBIF's download.Records also from GBIF's key 8365372 (Mimosa natans Vahl): Kew's file holds it as Mimosa natans Vahl (illegitimate under Neptunia oleracea Lour.); 1 record, from GBIF's download.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 718 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Neptunia oleracea, photograph 1did not loadNeptunia oleracea, photograph 2did not loadNeptunia oleracea, photograph 3did not loadNeptunia oleracea, photograph 4did not loadNeptunia oleracea, photograph 5did not loadNeptunia oleracea, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2); C T Johansson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2); Ito Y, Barfod A, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Mokkie, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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

Crateva tapia Crateva tapia Garlic-pear Photo: CC BY-SA, cristianol1456 Adenocalymma apurense Bignoniaceae Tabernaemontana amygdalifolia Tabernaemontana amygdalifolia Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY, Carlos Domínguez-RodríguezPaullinia pinnata Paullinia pinnata Bread and cheese Photo: CC BY-SA, Carlos HenriqueCordia dentata Cordia dentata White cordia Photo: CC BY, Carlos Domínguez-RodríguezTarlmounia elliptica Tarlmounia elliptica Curtain Creeper Photo: CC BY, 謝麗霦

Other Neptunia 4 in the reference

Neptunia gracilis Neptunia gracilis Selenium-weed Photo: CC BY, murrayokeNeptunia lutea Neptunia lutea Yellow puff Photo: CC BY, Linda Jo ConnNeptunia plena Neptunia plena Water dead and awake Photo: CC BY, Steven BodzinNeptunia pubescens Neptunia pubescens Tropical puff Photo: CC BY, Sam Kieschnick

Names & registers

Also known as Aeschynomene pumila; Desmanthus lacustris; Neptunia natans; Mimosa stolonifera; Neptunia stolonifera and 7 more. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
Lour.
Native to
Benin, Burkina, The Gambia +76
Wild records
718 in range · 586 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 Neptunia oleracea Lour. (plant_name_id 2383300), 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; 1077 records of GBIF's key 5353533, Neptunia oleracea Lour. (Kew's file holds it as Neptunia oleracea Lour. (accepted)): the GBIF download; 1 record of GBIF's key 5353535, Desmanthus natans Willd. (Kew's file holds it as Desmanthus natans Willd. (illegitimate under Neptunia oleracea Lour.)): the GBIF download; 106 records of GBIF's key 7570827, Neptunia natans W.Theob. (Kew's file holds it as Neptunia natans W.Theob. (illegitimate under Neptunia oleracea Lour.)): the GBIF download; 1 record of GBIF's key 8365372, Mimosa natans Vahl (Kew's file holds it as Mimosa natans Vahl (illegitimate under Neptunia oleracea Lour.)): the GBIF download; 3 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 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 18.00_-92.500, lapse-corrected -43 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 509607-1, POWO 509607-1
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 140 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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