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Richea dracophylla; photograph El Funcionario, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAEl Funcionario, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Richea dracophylla R.Br.

Ericaceae · Tasmania

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

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Richea dracophylla, photograph JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRichea dracophylla, photograph James, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRichea dracophylla, photograph El Funcionario, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRichea dracophylla, photograph El Funcionario, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRichea dracophylla, photograph David Alberto Cas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 6 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
3.1°C
Record low 1.2 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
17°C
Jan and Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
884mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
9–41DLI
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.

Summary

Richea dracophylla, commonly known as dragon heath or pineapple candleheath, is an endemic shrub of Tasmania, Australia. It is widespread across the south-eastern regions of Tasmania, particularly in montane and subalpine environments. The species is names for its striking, spirally arranged leaves which resemble the scales of a dragon, and its dense candle-like floral spikes.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Richea dracophylla", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (630 mm of 876 mm) takes 8 months, April and June to December. Mean temperature moves 6.9 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: December to June and October.

Rain

876 mm in the median year at the habitat, 630 mm of it April and June to December. Wettest month August at 94 mm, driest month February at 54 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 656 mm to 1,036 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 884 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 876 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 41 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 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 3.1 °C, the absolute minimum 1.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 28.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 4.9 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 0.4 °C to 8.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 17.0 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 3.1 °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: 61 to 62% 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 -27 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, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Richea dracophylla through the yearWarmest months January and February, mean daily high 17 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 4.9 °C; 876 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, southern hemisphere.-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°30°frost28.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER1.2° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 9–41RH 61–62%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 42 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 °C17 / 15–1917 / 16–1916 / 15–1714 / 12–1512 / 10–1411 / 7–1210 / 7–1110 / 8–1211 / 9–1312 / 11–1414 / 13–1615 / 14–18
Night °C12 / 8–1412 / 8–1411 / 7–149 / 5–128 / 3–116 / 1–95 / 0–95 / 1–96 / 2–98 / 3–109 / 5–1110 / 6–12
Rain mm63 / 53–7054 / 43–6166 / 50–7771 / 51–8263 / 41–7880 / 57–9484 / 54–10094 / 63–11377 / 61–10077 / 59–9669 / 56–7878 / 66–83
DLI41 / 39–4335 / 33–3626 / 24–2717 / 16–1811 / 10–129 / 8–1010 / 9–1115 / 14–1723 / 21–2431 / 29–3337 / 35–4041 / 39–43
RH %61 / 58–6462 / 59–6462 / 60–6561 / 59–6562 / 60–6762 / 60–6762 / 60–6861 / 59–6661 / 59–6561 / 59–6461 / 59–6561 / 59–65
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 42 grid cells holding the 260 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 2659:6546 (-42.975, 147.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 1.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 3.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.7 °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 42 distinct grid cells holding 260 of the 260 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2659:6546 (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 -43.00_147.500, lapse-corrected -27 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 73 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 keys of the names Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 4009715 (Cystanthe dracophylla (R.Br.) Kuntze, 0 records), 4010222 (Richea dracophylla R.Br., 519 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeTasmania · 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 marker-42.918, 147.244 · in the densest population, 270 records (100% 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 270 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 260 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 59 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 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 4009715 (Cystanthe dracophylla (R.Br.) Kuntze): Kew's file holds it as Cystanthe dracophylla (R.Br.) Kuntze (synonym under Richea dracophylla R.Br.); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 4010222 (Richea dracophylla R.Br.): Kew's file holds it as Richea dracophylla R.Br. (accepted); 519 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 of the 270 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Richea dracophylla, photograph 1did not loadRichea dracophylla, photograph 2did not loadRichea dracophylla, photograph 3did not loadRichea dracophylla, photograph 4did not loadRichea dracophylla, photograph 5did not load

Photographs: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; James, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; El Funcionario, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2); David Alberto Cas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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

Crassula moschata Crassula moschata Native stonecrop Photo: CC BY, Julia PalmerCarex trifida Carex trifida Sword Grass Photo: CC BY, Liadan DickieAcacia riceana Acacia riceana Rice's wattle Photo: CC0, author not statedLeptecophylla parvifolia Leptecophylla parvifolia Mountain Pinkberry Photo: CC BY, T. HammerCelmisia mackaui Celmisia mackaui Akaroa Daisy Photo: CC BY, Liadan DickieLeptinella dioica Leptinella dioica Hairless Leptinella Photo: CC BY, Felix Collins

Other Richea 6 in the reference

Richea continentis Richea continentis Ericaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, CanleyRichea gunnii Richea gunnii Ericaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, RmclaineRichea pandanifolia Richea pandanifolia Ericaceae Photo: CC BY, Barry StewartRichea procera Richea procera Ericaceae Photo: CC BY, John Tann from Sydney, AustraliaRichea scoparia Richea scoparia Ericaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, VelelaRichea sprengelioides Richea sprengelioides Ericaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, JJ Harrison…

Names & registers

Also known as Richea desgrazii; Dracophyllum desgrazii; Cystanthe dracophylla. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Ericaceae
Described by
R.Br.
Native to
Tasmania
Wild records
270 in range · 59 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 Richea dracophylla R.Br. (plant_name_id 2419170), 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 answeredasked 2026-10-22this 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; 0 records of GBIF's key 4009715, Cystanthe dracophylla (R.Br.) Kuntze (Kew's file holds it as Cystanthe dracophylla (R.Br.) Kuntze (synonym under Richea dracophylla R.Br.)): GBIF occurrence search API; 519 records of GBIF's key 4010222, Richea dracophylla R.Br. (Kew's file holds it as Richea dracophylla R.Br. (accepted)): the GBIF download; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum; 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 -43.00_147.500, lapse-corrected -27 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 325600-1, POWO 325600-1
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 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 3 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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