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Piper unguiculatum Ruiz & Pav.

Piperaceae · Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest +1

Photographs not checked iNaturalist was 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 figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
12.1°C
Record low 6.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,585mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
31–45DLI
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
Wet summers: the rain comes June to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,012 mm of 1,325 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.6 °C against a yearly mean of 23.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Rain

1,325 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,012 mm of it June to September. Wettest month September at 296 mm, driest month March at 6 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 866 mm to 2,214 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,585 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,325 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 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 12.1 °C, the absolute minimum 6.7 °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 13.6 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 10.4 °C to 19.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.4 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12.1 °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: 57 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. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +265 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 Piper unguiculatum through the yearWarmest months April and May, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 13.6 °C; 1,325 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°35°40°34.9° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER6.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 31–45RH 57–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 16 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 °C26 / 20–2928 / 22–3030 / 23–3131 / 25–3331 / 25–3429 / 24–3228 / 23–3129 / 23–3128 / 23–3027 / 22–3027 / 21–3026 / 20–30
Night °C14 / 10–2014 / 11–2016 / 12–2118 / 14–2220 / 15–2420 / 16–2419 / 16–2419 / 16–2419 / 16–2418 / 15–2316 / 13–2214 / 11–20
Rain mm33 / 8–7615 / 6–666 / 5–6315 / 2–8564 / 20–128225 / 166–323255 / 173–404236 / 176–380296 / 174–408138 / 68–23223 / 12–12719 / 4–86
DLI32 / 23–3437 / 27–3943 / 34–4545 / 38–4843 / 40–4737 / 35–4038 / 34–4237 / 34–4133 / 30–3732 / 28–3633 / 25–3431 / 22–32
RH %60 / 47–6959 / 46–6758 / 43–6657 / 44–6658 / 49–6764 / 57–6966 / 57–6967 / 58–6968 / 60–7167 / 56–6964 / 51–6861 / 48–69
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 16 grid cells holding the 18 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 1441:1574 (17.925, -101.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 6.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 12.1 °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 16 distinct grid cells holding 18 of the 18 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1441:1574 (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 18.00_-101.250, lapse-corrected +265 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1078 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 Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Peru · 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 marker19.481, -96.917 · in the densest population, 11 records (39% of those in range)
Kew's description“wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 28 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 18 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 22 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 6 km away. 14 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 10 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 9228350 (Piper unguiculatum Ruiz Pav.): Kew's file holds it as Piper unguiculatum Ruiz & Pav. (accepted); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 28 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 was skipped (not asked) when this page was built; GBIF's observation records with coordinates hold none. 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.

Pachyrhizus erosus Pachyrhizus erosus Yam bean Photo: CC BY-SA, Steve FitzgeraldTillandsia caput-medusae Tillandsia caput-medusae Octopus plant Photo: CC BY, José Javier Barrios FloresTrichocentrum brachyphyllum Trichocentrum brachyphyllum Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Carlos Domínguez-RodríguezSideroxylon capiri Sideroxylon capiri Sapotaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezCritonia quadrangularis Critonia quadrangularis Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezArachnothryx leucophylla Arachnothryx leucophylla Panama rose Photo: CC BY, Alexis López Hernández

Other Piper 44 in the reference

Piper aduncum Piper aduncum Spiked pepper Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezPiper amalago Piper amalago Wall Purslane Photo: CC BY, avocatPiper arboreum Piper arboreum Tree pepper Photo: CC BY, Diogo LuizPiper artanthe Piper artanthe Piperaceae Photo: CC BY, Nicolás Baresch UribePiper auritum Piper auritum Vera Cruz pepper Photo: CC BY, T R Shankar RamanPiper barbatum Piper barbatum Piperaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedPiper betle Piper betle Betel pepper Photo: CC BY, 胡正恆(Jackson Hu)Piper borbonense Piper borbonense Madagascan Wild Pepper Photo: CC BY, yellowplantPiper bredemeyeri Piper bredemeyeri Piperaceae Photo: CC BY, Arthur de Jesús Chavarría PérezPiper capense Piper capense African long pepper Photo: CC BY, Shaun SwanepoelPiper cernuum Piper cernuum Piperaceae Photo: CC BY, Fabrício Mil Homens RiellaPiper consanguineum Piper consanguineum Piperaceae Photo: CC BY, Guillaume Delaitre all 45 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Enckea unguiculata; Gonistum unguiculatum; Ottonia glaucescens; Ottonia unguiculata; Piper celtidifolium and 9 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Piperaceae
Described by
Ruiz & Pav.
Native to
Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Peru
Wild records
28 in range · 22 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 answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 0 records of GBIF's key 9228350, Piper unguiculatum Ruiz Pav. (Kew's file holds it as Piper unguiculatum Ruiz & Pav. (accepted)): GBIF occurrence search API; 6 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (5 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium; 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 18.00_-101.250, lapse-corrected +265 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 30182664-2 is Kew's for Piper unguiculatum Ruiz & Pav.
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 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 nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
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 24 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…