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Sambucus adnata; photograph Vinayaraj, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAVinayaraj, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sambucus adnata Wall. ex DC.

Viburnaceae · China South-Central, Inner Mongolia +8

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Sambucus adnata Wall. ex DC.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Wall.

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Sambucus adnata, photograph Vinayaraj, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSambucus adnata, photograph Vinayaraj, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSambucus adnata, photograph Vinayaraj, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSambucus adnata, photograph Vinayaraj, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSambucus adnata, photograph Vinayaraj, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSambucus adnata, photograph Vinayaraj, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-9.7°C
Record low -16.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
17°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,421mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
24–40DLI
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.

About the genus · Sambucus

Sambucus is a genus of between 20 and 30 species of flowering plants in the family Viburnaceae. The various species are commonly referred to as elder, with the flowers as elderflower, and the fruit as elderberry. The genus is represented by species native to most parts of the world, including Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and Australia, and has been distributed to other temperate and subtropical climates.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,044 mm of 1,457 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 13.4 °C against a yearly mean of 6.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Rain

1,457 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,044 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 345 mm, driest month December at 8 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 780 mm to 2,650 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,421 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,457 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: 24 to 40 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 45).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -9.7 °C, the absolute minimum -16.8 °C, 6,676 frost nights in 44 years, 151.7 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 21.5 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -8.2 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -19.1 °C to -2.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 16.7 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -9.7 °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: 60 to 71% 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 -36 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 Sambucus adnata through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 17 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -8.2 °C; 1,457 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.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°frost21.5° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-16.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 24–40RH 60–71%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 37 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 °C3 / -5–84 / -3–107 / 1–1411 / 5–1714 / 10–1916 / 14–2117 / 14–2117 / 14–2115 / 13–1912 / 8–168 / 2–135 / -4–10
Night °C-8 / -19–-2-7 / -15–-1-3 / -10–21 / -6–55 / 0–99 / 5–1310 / 6–1510 / 6–148 / 4–124 / -2–7-2 / -12–3-6 / -18–0
Rain mm17 / 5–3725 / 10–6652 / 24–10278 / 44–154127 / 78–224223 / 126–397345 / 154–680287 / 136–585189 / 118–36586 / 45–12620 / 9–358 / 4–24
DLI26 / 20–3031 / 24–3537 / 30–4140 / 33–4537 / 31–4431 / 27–3728 / 22–3629 / 24–3426 / 24–3026 / 19–3225 / 20–2824 / 18–27
RH %60 / 52–6561 / 53–6861 / 53–7061 / 55–7062 / 59–7068 / 63–7471 / 63–7771 / 63–7569 / 63–7464 / 59–6961 / 55–6760 / 53–66
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 37 grid cells holding the 45 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 1247:5413 (27.625, 90.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -16.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -9.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 21.5 °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 37 distinct grid cells holding 45 of the 45 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1247:5413 (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 27.50_90.625, lapse-corrected -36 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 3098 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.
NativeChina South-Central, Inner Mongolia, China North-Central, Qinghai, Tibet, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, Nepal, Myanmar · 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, 102.67 · in the densest population, 142 records (40% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 355 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 45 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 180 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 97 km away. 7 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 310 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 7765568 (Sambucus adnata Wall. ex DC.): Kew's file holds it as Sambucus adnata Wall. ex DC. (accepted); 58 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 inside the densest 2° block of the 355 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Sambucus adnata, photograph 1did not loadSambucus adnata, photograph 2did not loadSambucus adnata, photograph 3did not loadSambucus adnata, photograph 4did not loadSambucus adnata, photograph 5did not loadSambucus adnata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Vinayaraj, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (6).

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

Gentiana tibetica Gentiana tibetica Gentianaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Römert Salvia campanulata Lamiaceae Euphorbia sikkimensis Euphorbia sikkimensis Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Morten RossThalictrum chelidonii Thalictrum chelidonii Ranunculaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Meneerke bloemRubus fockeanus Rubus fockeanus Rosaceae Photo: CC BY, Wang.QGTripterospermum volubile Tripterospermum volubile Gentianaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, 阿橋 HQ

Other Sambucus 18 in the reference

Sambucus australasica Sambucus australasica Australian native elder Photo: CC BY-SA, O.NeateSambucus australis Sambucus australis Southern elder Photo: CC BY, Felipe HortonSambucus canadensis Sambucus canadensis American elder Photo: CC BY-SA, Fluff BergerSambucus cerulea Sambucus cerulea Blue elderberry Photo: CC BY, Gavin SlaterSambucus ebulus Sambucus ebulus Dwarf elder Photo: CC BY, АннаSambucus gaudichaudiana Sambucus gaudichaudiana White Elderberry Photo: CC BY, Ian RainbowSambucus javanica Sambucus javanica Chinese elder Photo: CC0, author not statedSambucus kamtschatica Sambucus kamtschatica Kamchatka elder Photo: CC BY, Tatyana PetrenkoSambucus lanceolata Sambucus lanceolata Viburnaceae Photo: CC BY, fmunozSambucus mexicana Sambucus mexicana Blue Elderberry Photo: CC BY, Ian McFaulSambucus nigra Sambucus nigra Elder Photo: CC0, author not statedSambucus palmensis Sambucus palmensis Canary Islands elder Photo: CC BY, Vítor Jorge all 19 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Sambucus adnata var. puberula; Sambucus gautschii; Sambucus schweriniana. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Viburnaceae
Described by
Wall. ex DC.
Native to
China South-Central, Inner Mongolia, China North-Central +7
Wild records
355 in range · 180 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 2026-10-22GBIF's key 3857491 is Sambucus adnata Wall.; the page links Kew's Sambucus adnata Wall. ex DC., and the name is cited as Kew cites it
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; 58 records of GBIF's key 7765568, Sambucus adnata Wall. ex DC. (Kew's file holds it as Sambucus adnata Wall. ex DC. (accepted)): GBIF occurrence search API; 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 27.50_90.625, lapse-corrected -36 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 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 29 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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