82 photographs › At a glance
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun, shaded
- Jul, shaded
- Aug, shaded
- Sep, shaded
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
From few records: 8 records in 5 grid cells. The records.
Summary
Phytolacca heterotepala, the Mexican pokeweed, is a species of plant in the pokeweed family Phytolaccaceae. It is native to the state of Tamaulipas in northeast Mexico and has been introduced to the U.S. state of California and Portugal.
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Phytolacca heterotepala", CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the genus · Phytolacca
Phytolacca is a genus of perennial plants native to North America, South America and East Asia. Some members of the genus are known as pokeweeds or similar names such as pokebush, pokeberry, pokeroot or poke sallet. Other names for species of Phytolacca include inkberry and ombú. More on Wikipedia ›
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Phytolacca", CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cultivation
Seasons
The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (498 mm of 677 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 17.5 °C against a yearly mean of 16.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.
Rain
677 mm in the median year at the habitat, 498 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 141 mm, driest month December at 6 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 602 mm to 740 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 680 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 677 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 45 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 30, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).
Warmth and air
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 2.1 °C, the absolute minimum -2.0 °C, 33 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.9 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 5.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 5.5 °C to 6.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.1 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 2.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).
Relative humidity at the habitat: 48 to 63% 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 -357 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
From few records: this habitat climate is read from 8 records in 5 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.
Habitat months, northern hemisphere
Mean daily high from 20 °C in Jan and Dec to 25 °C in Apr and May; mean nightly low from 6 °C in Jan to 12 °C in Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low. 677 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added), the wettest month Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 5 habitat cells. Over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER) the absolute minimum was -2.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.
Figures by month
| Figure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 20 / 20–21 | 22 / 21–22 | 24 / 24–25 | 25 / 25–26 | 25 / 25–26 | 23 / 23–24 | 22 / 21–22 | 22 / 22–22 | 21 / 21–21 | 21 / 20–21 | 21 / 20–21 | 20 / 20–21 |
| Night °C | 6 / 6–6 | 7 / 6–7 | 8 / 8–9 | 10 / 10–11 | 11 / 11–12 | 12 / 12–13 | 12 / 12–12 | 12 / 12–12 | 12 / 11–12 | 10 / 10–10 | 8 / 8–8 | 7 / 6–7 |
| Rain mm | 10 / 9–11 | 9 / 7–10 | 12 / 10–13 | 27 / 23–29 | 49 / 42–54 | 120 / 106–131 | 141 / 125–153 | 126 / 114–140 | 111 / 98–122 | 55 / 50–60 | 11 / 10–12 | 6 / 5–7 |
| DLI | 33 / 31–33 | 38 / 37–38 | 44 / 43–44 | 45 / 45–45 | 44 / 43–44 | 39 / 38–40 | 37 / 36–38 | 37 / 36–38 | 33 / 32–34 | 33 / 32–34 | 33 / 31–33 | 31 / 30–32 |
| RH % | 52 / 52–54 | 50 / 50–52 | 48 / 47–49 | 49 / 48–50 | 52 / 51–53 | 58 / 57–59 | 61 / 60–62 | 61 / 60–62 | 63 / 61–64 | 60 / 59–62 | 56 / 55–56 | 53 / 53–54 |
How this section is made
Natural habitat
How this section is made
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Mary Jantsch, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Tony KM, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (2).
Related
Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.
Bouvardia longiflora Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Julius P
Brongniartia intermedia Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Jordi Martínez Martínez
Coryphantha pycnacantha Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Juan Cruzado Cortés
Salvia circinnata Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, ASRS
Zephyranthes fosteri Foster's zephyrlily Photo: CC BY, Jordi Martínez Martínez
Mammillaria pringlei Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, P Gonzalez ZamoraOther Phytolacca 12 in the reference
Phytolacca acinosa Indian pokeweed Photo: CC0, author not stated
Phytolacca americana American pokeweed Photo: CC BY, Sandy Wolkenberg
Phytolacca bogotensis Southern pokeweed Photo: CC BY-SA, Noemi Guerrero
Phytolacca dioica Belhambra Photo: CC BY-SA, Antoinette Eyssell Knox
Phytolacca icosandra Tropical pokeweed Photo: CC BY, Mark Valen
Phytolacca octandra Phytolaccaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Mark Marathon
Phytolacca polyandra Chinese Pokeweed Photo: CC BY, Mary E. Macaulay, P.Eng.
Phytolacca rivinoides Venezuelan pokeweed Photo: CC BY, Cen_Bamper
Phytolacca rugosa Phytolaccaceae Photo: CC BY, lazarus
Phytolacca tetramera Phytolaccaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated
Phytolacca thyrsiflora Brazilian Pokeweed Photo: CC BY, Paulo Mascaretti
Phytolacca weberbaueri Phytolaccaceae Photo: CC BY, Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada Names & registers
Also known as Phytolacca heteropetala. (GBIF Backbone)
The record
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 answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 204 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (142 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 49 at a herbarium, 13 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)climate answeredasked 2026-10-22climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 19.50_-99.375, lapse-corrected -357 m at 6.5 °C/kmwikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22inat.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 2026-10-22inat.photos.cultivated not askedgbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshotEvery 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 11 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.