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Philodendron tenue; photograph David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SADavid J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Philodendron tenue K.Koch & Augustin

Araceae · Costa Rica, Honduras +5 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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Philodendron tenue, photograph (c) Eric Knight, some rights reserved (CC BY)Philodendron tenue, photograph (c) Eric Knight, some rights reserved (CC BY) 3 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
15.0°C
Record low 11.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
Mar, Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,902mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
24–36DLI
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 November (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

Philodendron tenue is a species of flowering plant in the family Araceae. It is native to wet tropical areas of southern Central America, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. A hemiepiphyte, it is found in variety of woodland and forest types at elevations from 20 to 2,300 m (70 to 7,550 ft). Leaf length varies considerably between individuals, possibly to the point of being botanical forms.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Philodendron tenue", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Philodendron

Philodendron is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. As of September 2025, the Plants of the World Online accepted 625 species; other sources accept different numbers. Regardless of number of species, the genus is the second-largest member of the family Araceae, after genus Anthurium. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Philodendron in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “climber”, “wet tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,815 mm of 3,941 mm) falls in May to November. The temperature curve is flat, 2.1 °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 temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

3,941 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,815 mm of it May to November. Wettest month October at 448 mm, driest month February at 177 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,926 mm to 5,474 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,902 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 3,941 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: 24 to 36 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 38).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 15.0 °C, the absolute minimum 11.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.9 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 18.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 14.9 °C to 22.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.1 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.0 °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: 68 to 73% 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 +304 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.

Group. Listed under the genus Philodendron in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “climber”, “wet tropical”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Philodendron tenue through the yearWarmest months March, April and May, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 18.3 °C; 3,941 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°15°20°25°30°35°40°34.9° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER11.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 24–36RH 68–73%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 39 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 °C25 / 23–2726 / 23–2827 / 24–2827 / 24–2927 / 24–2826 / 24–2826 / 23–2726 / 24–2826 / 24–2826 / 23–2725 / 23–2725 / 22–27
Night °C18 / 15–2219 / 15–2219 / 16–2320 / 16–2321 / 16–2321 / 16–2320 / 16–2320 / 16–2320 / 16–2320 / 16–2220 / 16–2219 / 15–22
Rain mm237 / 86–427177 / 80–378193 / 95–426244 / 94–495348 / 213–575401 / 169–541413 / 143–528414 / 133–561410 / 159–585448 / 228–679381 / 168–564275 / 110–516
DLI29 / 22–3332 / 24–3636 / 26–3836 / 25–3829 / 23–3328 / 21–3427 / 21–3629 / 22–3727 / 22–3525 / 22–3024 / 21–2825 / 22–30
RH %69 / 65–7468 / 64–7268 / 64–7268 / 65–7371 / 67–7573 / 66–7772 / 63–7871 / 63–7773 / 66–7673 / 67–7772 / 68–7771 / 67–77
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 39 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (44 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), 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 1485:1901 (15.725, -84.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.9 °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 39 distinct grid cells holding 44 of the 45 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1485:1901 (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 15.50_-85.000, lapse-corrected +304 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 558 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.
NativeCosta Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador · 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 marker10.383, -84.383 · in the densest population, 183 records (56% of those in range)
Kew's description“climber” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 328 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 44 of them in the land cells it reads, of 45 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 295 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. 283 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 328 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Philodendron tenue, photograph 1did not loadPhilodendron tenue, photograph 2did not load

Photographs: (c) Eric Knight, 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.

Heliconia longa Heliconia longa Heliconiaceae Photo: CC0, Vince HaleSyngonium schottianum Syngonium schottianum Araceae Photo: CC BY, er-birdsTrichodrymonia lineata Trichodrymonia lineata Gesneriaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, SINAC Pérez GreivinOncidium lineoligerum Oncidium lineoligerum Tight ear oncidium Photo: CC BY, Nohemy JucCalathea crotalifera Calathea crotalifera Rattlesnake plant Photo: CC BY, Tom FieldCostus laevis Costus laevis Costaceae Photo: CC BY, Jacek Pietruszewski

Other Philodendron 93 in the reference

Philodendron angustisectum Philodendron angustisectum Araceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel MesaPhilodendron anisotomum Philodendron anisotomum Araceae Photo: CC BY-SA, YuPhilodendron appendiculatum Philodendron appendiculatum Araceae Photo: CC BY-SA, UNA EcoturismoPhilodendron atabapoense Philodendron atabapoense Araceae Photo: CC0, author not statedPhilodendron auriculatum Philodendron auriculatum Araceae Photo: CC BY, Fabrício Mil Homens RiellaPhilodendron barrosoanum Philodendron barrosoanum Araceae Photo: CC0, author not statedPhilodendron billietiae Philodendron billietiae Araceae Photo: CC BY, fmunozPhilodendron bipennifolium Philodendron bipennifolium Fiddle-leaf philodendron Photo: CC0, author not statedPhilodendron bipinnatifidum Philodendron bipinnatifidum Araceae Photo: CC BY, Paulo C. O. CunhaPhilodendron brandtianum Philodendron brandtianum Silver Leaf Philodendron Photo: CC BY, Yuri Sofronov Philodendron brasiliense Araceae Philodendron burle-marxii Philodendron burle-marxii Araceae Photo: CC BY-SA, David J. Stang all 94 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Philodendron ecuadorense; Philodendron gracile; Philodendron sodiroanum. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Araceae
Described by
K.Koch & Augustin
Native to
Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua +4
Wild records
328 in range · 295 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
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 15.50_-85.000, lapse-corrected +304 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Philodendron tenue K.Koch & Augustin (the item's: IPNI 88037-1, POWO 314466-2)
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 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
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 32 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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