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Palicourea padifolia; photograph (c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2004-05-27

Palicourea padifolia (Willd. ex Schult.) C.M.Taylor & Lorence

Rubiaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +11

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Palicourea padifolia, photograph (c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY)Palicourea padifolia, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedPalicourea padifolia, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedPalicourea padifolia, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedPalicourea padifolia, photograph (c) Noland Martin, some rights reserved (CC BY)Palicourea padifolia, photograph (c) Noland Martin, some rights reserved (CC BY) 93 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
11.1°C
Record low 8.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,423mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–39DLI
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
Wet summers: the rain comes June to October (the habitat's months, not shifted), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Palicourea padifolia is a species from the genus Palicourea.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Palicourea padifolia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,698 mm of 2,327 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.3 °C against a yearly mean of 18.4 °C). 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

2,327 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,698 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 408 mm, driest month March at 56 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,520 mm to 4,117 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,423 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,327 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: 27 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 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 11.1 °C, the absolute minimum 8.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 25.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 11.9 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 8.7 °C to 15.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 24.6 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 11.1 °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 71% 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 +488 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 Palicourea padifolia through the yearWarmest month April, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 11.9 °C; 2,327 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.5°10°15°20°25°30°25.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER8.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 27–39RH 62–71%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 318 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 °C20 / 18–2522 / 19–2623 / 20–2725 / 21–2824 / 20–2823 / 20–2623 / 19–2623 / 20–2623 / 19–2522 / 19–2521 / 18–2420 / 18–24
Night °C12 / 9–1612 / 9–1613 / 10–1715 / 12–1816 / 13–1916 / 13–2015 / 12–1916 / 13–1916 / 13–1915 / 12–1813 / 10–1713 / 9–16
Rain mm67 / 6–17258 / 10–13756 / 15–13580 / 42–219165 / 105–449342 / 228–517340 / 200–492341 / 212–539408 / 251–633267 / 158–549129 / 46–39574 / 12–245
DLI28 / 22–3433 / 27–3838 / 32–4239 / 34–4338 / 27–4132 / 24–3634 / 25–3834 / 26–3729 / 26–3328 / 24–3127 / 23–3227 / 21–32
RH %66 / 58–7064 / 57–6862 / 57–6763 / 58–6766 / 62–7170 / 67–7470 / 65–7370 / 65–7471 / 68–7470 / 67–7568 / 63–7468 / 59–71
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 318 grid cells holding the 577 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 1600:1925 (9.975, -83.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 8.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 11.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 25.8 °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 318 distinct grid cells holding 577 of the 577 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1600:1925 (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 10.00_-83.750, lapse-corrected +488 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1553 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.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia · 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 marker9.746, -83.812 · in the densest population, 757 records (59% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1293 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 577 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 991 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4 km away. 4 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 716 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.
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 1293 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Palicourea padifolia, photograph 1did not loadPalicourea padifolia, photograph 2did not loadPalicourea padifolia, photograph 3did not loadPalicourea padifolia, photograph 4did not loadPalicourea padifolia, photograph 5did not loadPalicourea padifolia, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Noland Martin, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

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

Elleanthus capitatus Elleanthus capitatus Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Leonardo O. Alvarado CárdenasTillandsia punctulata Tillandsia punctulata Mexican black torch plant Photo: CC BY, Francisco Emilio Roldán VelascoErechtites valerianifolius Erechtites valerianifolius Brazilian fireweed Photo: CC BY, Patrícia MeesProsthechea pseudopygmaea Prosthechea pseudopygmaea Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Jeanette ClarkeProsthechea rhynchophora Prosthechea rhynchophora Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez Marcial Elaphoglossum latifolium Broadleaf tonguefern

Other Palicourea 24 in the reference

Palicourea acuminata Palicourea acuminata Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, reagan peschkePalicourea amethystina Palicourea amethystina Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Esteban PovedaPalicourea angustifolia Palicourea angustifolia Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Ángela Patricia Rojas CortésPalicourea boqueronensis Palicourea boqueronensis Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Andrés Ramírez-BarreraPalicourea chiriquiensis Palicourea chiriquiensis Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Trevor Van LoonPalicourea colorata Palicourea colorata Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Helio LourenciniPalicourea crocea Palicourea crocea Red cappel Photo: CC0, author not statedPalicourea croceoides Palicourea croceoides Yellow cedar Photo: CC BY, Matteo BellucciPalicourea cyanococca Palicourea cyanococca Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Justine CobaledaPalicourea deflexa Palicourea deflexa Nodding wild coffee Photo: CC BY, Yoannis DomínguezPalicourea elata Palicourea elata Hooker's lips Photo: CC BY, Martin JungPalicourea guianensis Palicourea guianensis Showy cappel Photo: CC BY, reagan peschke all 25 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Palicourea costaricensis; Palicourea mexicana; Palicourea subrubra; Psychotria mexicana; Psychotria padifolia and 5 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Rubiaceae
Described by
(Willd. ex Schult.) C.M.Taylor & Lorence
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +10
Wild records
1293 in range · 991 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 2026-10-22
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 answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 83 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (75 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 8 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 10.00_-83.750, lapse-corrected +488 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Palicourea padifolia (Willd. ex Schult.) C.M.Taylor & Lorence (the item's: IPNI 1143662-2, POWO 281971-2)
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 53 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…