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Photinia davidiana (Decne.) Cardot

Rosaceae · China South-Central, China North-Central +5

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

Photographs not checked iNaturalist and GBIF media were skipped (not asked) when this page was built. Not asked, or not answered, is not "none": nothing here claims there is none. Why the site says it this way.
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Habitat figuresfrom few records
Coldest month, mean nightly low
2.3°C
Feb at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
23°C
Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,345mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
26–35DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 4 records in 3 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Photinia davidiana, the Chinese photinia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. It is a shrub or tree native to Asia, ranging from central and southern China to northern Vietnam, Taiwan, northern Sumatra, and Mount Kinabalu on Borneo. Its flowers are white and grow in close clusters, followed by small pome fruits.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Photinia davidiana", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Photinia

Photinia is a genus of about 30 species of small trees and large shrubs, but the taxonomy has recently varied greatly, with the genera Heteromeles, Stranvaesia and Aronia sometimes included in Photinia.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,507 mm of 3,321 mm) takes 8 months, May to December. Mean temperature moves 12.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to June.

Rain

3,321 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,507 mm of it May to December. Wettest month October at 359 mm, driest month February at 162 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,799 mm to 3,384 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,345 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 3,321 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: 26 to 35 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 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 35).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 2.3 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range 2.1 °C to 12.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 22.9 °C in June and August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 2.3 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, February, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 68% 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. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. 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

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 4 records in 3 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Photinia davidiana through the yearWarmest months June, July, August and September, mean daily high 23 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 2.3 °C; 3,321 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.0°5°10°15°20°25°30°°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 26–35RH 62–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 3 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C10 / 10–1911 / 10–2014 / 11–2119 / 12–2322 / 13–2323 / 13–2423 / 12–2723 / 12–2623 / 12–2320 / 12–2216 / 11–2111 / 10–20
Night °C3 / 1–122 / 2–125 / 3–1310 / 4–1414 / 5–1515 / 4–1715 / 4–1815 / 4–1815 / 4–1611 / 4–146 / 3–132 / 2–12
Rain mm273 / 136–303162 / 161–174187 / 177–268192 / 191–274322 / 316–350308 / 292–402282 / 258–300286 / 268–302300 / 234–320359 / 150–381311 / 136–320339 / 122–357
DLI27 / 18–2831 / 19–3235 / 22–3534 / 26–3529 / 26–3026 / 26–2829 / 27–3230 / 29–3028 / 26–2926 / 24–2726 / 20–2626 / 19–27
RH %66 / 59–6866 / 58–6865 / 56–6866 / 58–6868 / 62–6967 / 63–6966 / 63–6766 / 63–6968 / 64–7066 / 64–6965 / 63–7062 / 60–68

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, +2729 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum -2.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.5 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 3 grid cells holding the 4 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 1678:5931 (6.075, 116.575). 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 3 distinct grid cells holding 4 of the 4 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1678:5931 (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 6.00_116.875, lapse-corrected +2729 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 3205 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 key of the name Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 3000406 (Stranvaesia davidiana Decne., 1198 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeChina South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan, Vietnam, Borneo, Sumatera · introduced: Great Britain, Washington · 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 marker29.35, 102.717 · in the densest population, 163 records (72% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 225 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 4 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 136 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 74 km away. 195 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 221 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 3000406 (Stranvaesia davidiana Decne.): Kew's file holds it as Stranvaesia davidiana Decne. (synonym under Photinia davidiana (Decne.) Cardot); 1,198 records, 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 225 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Not checked. iNaturalist and GBIF media were skipped (not asked) when this page was built. Not a statement that none exist.

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

Trichosanthes rosthornii Trichosanthes rosthornii Rosthorn snake gourd Photo: CC BY-SA, 許文俊Pyrrosia sheareri Pyrrosia sheareri Shearer's felt fern Photo: CC BY, 祐Clematis lasiandra Clematis lasiandra Ranunculaceae Photo: CC BY, lansanChamaecyparis formosensis Chamaecyparis formosensis Taiwan cypress Photo: CC0, author not statedPittosporum daphniphylloides Pittosporum daphniphylloides Pittosporaceae Photo: CC BY, Kiwi ShenPrunus obtusata Prunus obtusata Rosaceae Photo: CC BY, 曾昱承 Yu-Cheng Zeng

Other Photinia 5 in the reference

Photinia × fraseri Photinia × fraseri Fraser's photinia Photo: CC0, Stephen James McWilliamPhotinia glabra Photinia glabra Japanese photinia Photo: CC BY, 曾昱承 Yu-Cheng ZengPhotinia griffithii Photinia griffithii Rosaceae Photo: Public domain, DaderotPhotinia prunifolia Photinia prunifolia Rosaceae Photo: CC BY, Toby YPhotinia serratifolia Photinia serratifolia Japanese photinia Photo: CC BY, Frankie Simmons

Names & registers

Also known as Pyrus davidiana; Stranvaesia davidiana. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Rosaceae
Described by
(Decne.) Cardot
Native to
China South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast +4
Wild records
225 in range · 136 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 Photinia davidiana (Decne.) Cardot (plant_name_id 2952561), 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; 1198 records of GBIF's key 3000406, Stranvaesia davidiana Decne. (Kew's file holds it as Stranvaesia davidiana Decne. (synonym under Photinia davidiana (Decne.) Cardot)): the GBIF download; 36 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (25 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 6 at a herbarium, 5 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 6.00_116.875, lapse-corrected +2729 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, +2729 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 727366-1, POWO 727366-1
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 nothing to reportasked 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.

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