Species
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Pachysandra terminalis Siebold & Zucc.

Carpet Box, Carpet box, Japanese spurge, Japanese pachysandra, Japanese Pachysandra, Japanese mountain spurge

Climate known 53 photographs
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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

Pachysandra terminalis, the Japanese pachysandra, carpet box or Japanese spurge, is a species of flowering plant in the boxwood family Buxaceae, native to Japan, Korea and China and introduced to eastern North America. It is a slow-growing, spreading evergreen perennial growing to 10 cm (4 in) tall by 60 cm (24 in) broad, with alternate, simple, glossy leaves, and creeping stems. The leaves may yellow in direct sunlight or in winter. When growing in a spreading mass of many plants, a dense cover is formed.

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

About the genus · Pachysandra

Pachysandra is a genus of five species of evergreen perennials or subshrubs, belonging to the boxwood family Buxaceae. The species are native to eastern Asia and southeast North America, some reaching a height of 20–45 cm (7.9–17.7 in), with only weakly woody stems. The leaves are alternate, leathery, with a coarsely toothed margin, and are typically 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) long. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Pachysandra”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Buxaceae
Described by
Siebold & Zucc.
Native to
Sakhalin, China South-Central, China North-Central +2
Wild records
87 in range· 64 open

At a glance

Warmest month
25°C
Aug, mean day; nights 18 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1606mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 214 mm (CHELSA)
Light
13–34DLI
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 summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (April to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1606 mm a year, wettest September at 214 mm, driest February at 70 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 34 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -10.4 °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.

Also known as Pachysandra termialis Siebold & Zucc.; Pachysandra terminalis f. subrhombea Makino; Pachysandra terminalis f. variegata (Norton) Manning; Pachysandra terminalis f. variegata (Norton) Manning ex Hegi; Pachysandra terminalis var. variegata Norton.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (April to October at the habitat, northern).

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

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1185 mm of 1606 mm) falls in April to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 16.2 °C against a yearly mean of 9.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to April.

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 1606 mm a year, wettest September at 214 mm, driest February at 70 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1606 mm a year at the habitat, 1185 mm of it April to October. Wettest month September at 214 mm, driest February at 70 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1009 mm to 2542 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: 13 to 34 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 34 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 10, the highest 90th-percentile month 36).

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 -10.4 °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 -10.4 °C, the absolute minimum -16.1 °C, about 136 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -7.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells -14.7 °C to -0.2 °C), warmest day 25.1 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -10.4 °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: 60 to 67% 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 1 °C in Jan to 25 °C in Aug; mean night from -7 °C in Jan to 18 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1606 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 79 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -16.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.5 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost32.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)-16.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 13–34RH 60–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 79 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 °C1 / -6–82 / -5–105 / -1–1412 / 6–2017 / 11–2421 / 16–2824 / 19–3025 / 21–2921 / 18–2615 / 11–209 / 3–153 / -3–11
Night °C-7 / -15–-0-6 / -13–2-3 / -8–53 / -2–119 / 4–1613 / 9–2017 / 13–2218 / 15–2315 / 10–199 / 4–142 / -4–8-4 / -11–3
Rain mm76 / 13–16770 / 19–143100 / 42–176115 / 67–162142 / 96–201156 / 91–254201 / 129–298207 / 137–289214 / 101–292150 / 82–202105 / 38–20870 / 15–196
DLI15 / 13–1820 / 18–2327 / 23–2933 / 29–3534 / 32–3633 / 28–3530 / 28–3430 / 26–3324 / 22–2619 / 18–2215 / 13–1813 / 10–17
RH %61 / 55–6761 / 56–6560 / 57–6360 / 57–6261 / 58–6365 / 61–6867 / 62–7166 / 62–7065 / 62–6761 / 59–6561 / 58–6561 / 56–67

Each figure is the median across the 79 grid cells holding the 86 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 1043:6402 (37.825, 140.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -16.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -10.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.5 °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 79 distinct grid cells holding the 86 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1043:6402 (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 38.00_140.000, lapse-corrected +30 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 582 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.
NativeSakhalin, China South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast, Japan· introduced: Great Britain, Austria, Germany, Italy, Yugoslavia, Central European Russia, Ontario, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, District of Columbia
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker42.7, 142.28 · in the densest population, 65 records (75% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 87 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 64 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 1760 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 1 in-range record is placed to worse than 10 km and stays on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 87 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Pachysandra terminalisPachysandra terminalisPachysandra terminalisPachysandra terminalisPachysandra terminalisPachysandra terminalisPachysandra terminalisPachysandra terminalis

Photographs: (c) Emily Summerbell, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) betsyyyy, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Mark Apgar, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Adam Leigh, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) feralbeetle, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

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 Pachysandra terminalis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Gamma Paleohexaploidy in the Stem Lineage of Core Eudicots: Significance for MADS-Box Gene and Species Diversification
Dries Vekemans, Sebastian Proost, Kevin Vanneste, Heleen Coenen (2012) · Molecular Biology and Evolution
Water Relations of Pachysandra Leaves during Freezing and Thawing
Jianjun Zhu, Erwin Beck (1991) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Pachysandra Alkaloids. VIII. Structures of Pachystermine-A and -B, Novel Type Alkaloids Having a β-Lactam Ring
Tohru Kikuchi, Shoichiro Uyeo (1967) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Cytotoxic Alkaloids of Pachysandra terminalis.
Shinji Funayama, Toshiro Noshita, Kazuto SHINODA, Naomi Haga (2000) · Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
First Report of Cylindrocladium pseudonaviculatum Causing Leaf Spot of Pachysandra terminalis
J. A. LaMondia, De‐Wei Li, Robert E. Marra, S. M. Douglas (2012) · Plant Disease
Effects of Horticultural Oil and Foliaror Soil-Applied Systemic Insecticides on Euonymus Scale in Pachysandra
Clifford S. Sadof, D. Casey Sclar (2000) · Arboriculture & Urban Forestry
First Report of Pachysandra terminalis Leaf Spot by Calonectria pseudonaviculata in Virginia
Ping Kong, T. Michael Likins, Chuanxue Hong (2016) · Plant Disease
Phytophthora terminalis sp. nov. and Phytophthora occultans sp. nov., two invasive pathogens of ornamental plants in Europe
Willem A. Man in ‘t Veld, Karin C.H.M. Rosendahl, Patricia C. J. van Rijswick, Johan Meffert (2015) · Mycologia

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 Pachysandra 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 74 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.