Species
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Rhaphiolepis umbellata (Thunb.) Makino

Japanese-hawthorn, hou ye shi ban mu, sharinbai, yedda-hawthorn

Climate known 9 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Rhaphiolepis umbellata or Sexton's bride is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae, native to Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Growing to 1.5 m (5 ft) tall and wide, it is an evergreen shrub with glossy oval leaves, and scented white flowers, sometimes tinged with pink, in early summer.

Text from Wikipedia, “Rhaphiolepis umbellata”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Rhaphiolepis

Rhaphiolepis is a genus of about fifteen species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosaceae, native to warm temperate and subtropical East Asia and Southeast Asia, from southern Japan, southern Korea and southern China, south to Thailand and Vietnam. In searching literature it is well to remember that the name commonly is misspelt "Raphiolepsis". The genus is closely related to Eriobotrya (loquats), so closely in fact, that members of the two genera have hybridised with each other; for example × Rhaphiobotrya, the "Coppertone loquat", is a hybrid of Eriobotrya deflexa X Rhaphiolepis indica. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Rhaphiolepis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Rosaceae
Described by
(Thunb.) Makino
Native to
China Southeast, Japan, Korea +2
Wild records
1058 in range· 689 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Aug, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1913mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Aug 255 mm (CHELSA)
Light
16–35DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (April to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1913 mm a year, wettest August at 255 mm, driest December at 59 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 2.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Laurus umbellata Thunb.; Pyrus umbellularia M.F.Fay & Christenh.; Rhaphiolepis indica f. umbellata (Thunb.) H.Ohashi; Rhaphiolepis indica f. umbellata (Thunb.) Hatus.; Rhaphiolepis indica subsp. integerrima (Hook. & Arn.) Kitam. and 5 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (April to October at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1449 mm of 1913 mm) falls in April to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.3 °C against a yearly mean of 16.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1913 mm a year, wettest August at 255 mm, driest December at 59 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1913 mm a year at the habitat, 1449 mm of it April to October. Wettest month August at 255 mm, driest December at 59 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1397 mm to 3013 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 2.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 2.3 °C, the absolute minimum -0.6 °C, 3 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 4.4 °C in January (across the envelope cells 0.4 °C to 17.1 °C), warmest day 27.9 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 2.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 69% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 9 °C in Jan to 28 °C in Aug; mean night from 4 °C in Jan to 25 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1913 mm of rain a year, most in Aug. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 476 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -0.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 30.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost30.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)-0.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 16–35RH 55–69 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 476 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C9 / 6–199 / 7–2012 / 10–2117 / 13–2421 / 17–2624 / 20–2827 / 24–2928 / 26–2926 / 24–2821 / 19–2616 / 13–2312 / 8–20
Night °C4 / 0–175 / 1–187 / 4–1912 / 9–2216 / 14–2419 / 18–2623 / 22–2725 / 23–2722 / 20–2617 / 14–2412 / 8–227 / 3–19
Rain mm70 / 32–19885 / 49–185143 / 80–236150 / 103–241175 / 124–286240 / 168–404238 / 151–327255 / 147–316224 / 171–358167 / 54–266107 / 50–23159 / 24–175
DLI17 / 14–1821 / 19–2327 / 25–2933 / 31–3535 / 32–3734 / 30–3734 / 31–4134 / 31–3828 / 25–3425 / 20–2718 / 16–2016 / 14–17
RH %55 / 53–6056 / 54–6158 / 56–6260 / 58–6564 / 61–6768 / 65–7169 / 66–7367 / 64–7063 / 62–6659 / 57–6357 / 55–6155 / 54–59

Each figure is the median across the 476 grid cells holding the 893 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1097:6402 (35.125, 140.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 2.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 476 distinct grid cells holding the 893 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1097:6402 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 35.00_140.000, lapse-corrected +42 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 76 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina Southeast, Japan, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan· introduced: Azores
Kew's description“shrub” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker24.395, 123.755 · in the densest population, 708 records (67% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1058 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 689 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 115 km away. 489 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 165 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1058 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Rhaphiolepis umbellataRhaphiolepis umbellataRhaphiolepis umbellataRhaphiolepis umbellataRhaphiolepis umbellataRhaphiolepis umbellataRhaphiolepis umbellataRhaphiolepis umbellata

Photographs: Takaaki Hattori, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (2); Halema J, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (2); Grey Smith, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Rhaphiolepis umbellata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Infestation of Wild and Ornamental Noncrop Fruits by Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae)
J. C. Lee, Amy J. Dreves, Adam Cave, S. Kawai (2015) · Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Flavanol glucosides from rhubarb and Rhaphiolepis umbellata
Gen‐ichiro Nonaka, Emiko Ezaki, Katsuro Hayashi, Itsuo Nishioka (1983) · Phytochemistry
Life history of Adalia bipunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in Japan
Yasuyuki Sakuratani, Yoshihito Matsumoto, Motoki OKA, Takahiko Kubo (2000) · European Journal of Entomology
Performance of Two Bioswales on Urban Runoff Management
Qingfu Xiao, E. Gregory McPherson, Qi Zhang, Xinlei Ge (2017) · Infrastructures
Tannins and related compounds. Part XLIX Affinity of procyanidins (condensed tannins) from the bark of Rhaphiolepis umbellata for proteins.
Emiko Ezaki-Furuichi, Gen‐ichiro Nonaka, Itsuo Nishioka, Katsuro Hayashi (1987) · Agricultural and Biological Chemistry
Tannins and related compounds. Part XLIII. Isolation and structures of procyanidins (condensed tannins) from Rhaphiolepis umbellata.
Emiko Ezaki-Furuichi, Gen‐ichiro Nonaka, Itsuo Nishioka, Katsuro Hayashi (1986) · Agricultural and Biological Chemistry
Geographic Variation in Germination Traits in Melia azedarach and Rhaphiolepis umbellata
Tetsuto Abe, Michio Matsunaga (2011) · American Journal of Plant Sciences
Accumulation and Antifungal Spectrum of 4'-Methoxyaucuparin as a New Phytoalexin in Rhaphiolepis umbellata Makino.
Siti Muslimah Widyastuti, Fukuji Nonaka, Keisuke Watanabe, Eiko Maruyama (1991) · 日本植物病理學會報
Accumulation and Antifungal Spectrum of Rhaphiolepsin as a Second New Phytoalexin in Rhaphiolepis umbellata Makino.
Siti Muslimah Widyastuti, Fukuji Nonaka, Keisuku WATANABE, Eiko Maruyama (1991) · 日本植物病理學會報
A study on the effects of mixed seeding of Chinese-grown Indigofera spp. and evergreen broad-leaved trees
Hiroshi Yoshida, Yukihiro MORIMOTO (2005) · Journal of the Japanese Society of Revegetation Technology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Rhaphiolepis 3 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: not asked: 17 wild photographs already from the GBIF download
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 101 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.