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Scaevola gracilis; photograph John Barkla, CC BY, via GBIF CC BYJohn Barkla, CC BY, via GBIF

Scaevola gracilis Hook.f.

Goodeniaceae · Kermadec Is., Tonga

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Scaevola gracilis Hook.f.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Hook.fil.

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Scaevola gracilis, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedScaevola gracilis, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsScaevola gracilis, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsScaevola gracilis, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsScaevola gracilis, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsScaevola gracilis, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 7 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Coldest month, mean nightly low
15.4°C
Aug at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (sea cell) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
23°C
Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,790mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–45DLI
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
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.

From few records: 7 records in 3 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Scaevola gracilis is a plant in the family Goodeniaceae, native to the Kermadec Islands and Tonga.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Scaevola gracilis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,209 mm of 1,687 mm) takes 8 months, January to March, May to August and November. Mean temperature moves 6.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: November to February, May and July to September.

Rain

1,687 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,209 mm of it January to March, May to August and November. Wettest month March at 184 mm, driest month October at 85 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,535 mm to 2,108 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,790 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,687 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: 16 to 45 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 15.4 °C in August (across the grid cells of the range 15.1 °C to 20.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 22.8 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 15.4 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, August, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell that is mostly sea and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 66% 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. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. 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 7 records in 3 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Scaevola gracilis through the yearWarmest month February, mean daily high 23 °C; coldest month August, mean nightly low 15.4 °C; 1,687 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 16–45RH 60–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 3 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C22 / 22–2523 / 23–2622 / 22–2621 / 21–2520 / 19–2418 / 18–2317 / 17–2217 / 17–2217 / 17–2218 / 18–2219 / 19–2421 / 21–25
Night °C21 / 21–2422 / 22–2421 / 21–2420 / 20–2418 / 18–2317 / 17–2216 / 16–2115 / 15–2016 / 16–2117 / 16–2118 / 18–2220 / 20–23
Rain mm135 / 110–231164 / 156–254184 / 138–252134 / 117–230151 / 125–164161 / 131–186135 / 120–159142 / 127–162131 / 116–13785 / 71–118137 / 136–151128 / 106–189
DLI44 / 41–4440 / 39–4033 / 32–3526 / 26–3020 / 20–2516 / 16–2218 / 18–2323 / 23–2731 / 30–3338 / 38–3943 / 41–4345 / 42–45
RH %64 / 62–6666 / 63–6864 / 62–6762 / 60–6461 / 59–6360 / 58–6260 / 58–6160 / 58–6261 / 59–6361 / 59–6363 / 61–6564 / 62–66

The daily extremes were read at a NASA POWER cell that is 0% land: neither it nor the next candidates whose coldest month's mean nightly low is within 2 °C of the median across cells sit in a POWER cell that is mostly land, and the rule reads a cold floor only from a cell that is mostly land, so none is read for this species. Nor is the coldest month's mean nightly low taken as one: it is a mean of a month's lows, not its coldest night. What that cell gave over 44 years: absolute minimum 11.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 24.5 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 3 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (7 records in those cells; 2 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), 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 2404:31 (-30.225, -178.425). 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 3 distinct grid cells holding 7 of the 9 in-range records (2 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2404:31 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells, though its NASA POWER cell is only 0% land and none of the 1 next candidates within 2 °C of the median was mostly land); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -30.00_-178.125, lapse-corrected +10 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 10 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.
NativeKermadec Is., Tonga · 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-29.265, -177.933 · in the densest population, 18 records (90% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub or shrub” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 20 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 7 of them in the land cells it reads, of 9 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 19 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 11 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.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 20 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Scaevola gracilis, photograph 1did not loadScaevola gracilis, photograph 2did not loadScaevola gracilis, photograph 3did not loadScaevola gracilis, photograph 4did not loadScaevola gracilis, photograph 5did not loadScaevola gracilis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0; Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (5).

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

Metrosideros kermadecensis Metrosideros kermadecensis Pohutukawa Photo: CC0, author not statedPouzolzia australis Pouzolzia australis Kermadec Nettle Tree Photo: CC BY, John BarklaSphaeropteris robusta Sphaeropteris robusta Cyatheaceae Photo: CC BY, ian_mcallanDianella intermedia Dianella intermedia Asphodelaceae Photo: CC BY, Leon PerrieHowea forsteriana Howea forsteriana Sentry palm Photo: CC BY, William HarlandRhopalostylis baueri Rhopalostylis baueri Kermadec Five Finger Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Scaevola 14 in the reference

Scaevola aemula Scaevola aemula Common fanflower Photo: CC BY, Kym NicolsonScaevola albida Scaevola albida White fan-flower Photo: CC BY-SA, Greg TasneyScaevola calendulacea Scaevola calendulacea Dune fan-flower Photo: CC BY, Laura Fernández WinzerScaevola coriacea Scaevola coriacea Dwarf naupaka Photo: CC0, author not statedScaevola crassifolia Scaevola crassifolia Cushion Fanflower Photo: CC0, author not statedScaevola cunninghamii Scaevola cunninghamii Goodeniaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedScaevola gaudichaudiana Scaevola gaudichaudiana Mountain naupaka Photo: CC0, author not statedScaevola gaudichaudii Scaevola gaudichaudii Ridgetop naupaka Photo: CC BY, Naji LoveScaevola hainanensis Scaevola hainanensis Goodeniaceae Photo: CC BY, 曾昱承 Yu-Cheng ZengScaevola nitida Scaevola nitida Shining fanflower Photo: CC BY, desertnaturalistScaevola plumieri Scaevola plumieri Gull feed Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezScaevola ramosissima Scaevola ramosissima Hairy Fan-flower Photo: CC BY, Zara all 15 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Lobelia gracilis. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Goodeniaceae
Described by
Hook.f.
Native to
Kermadec Is., Tonga
Wild records
20 in range · 19 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 5569462 is Scaevola gracilis Hook.fil.; the page links Kew's Scaevola gracilis Hook.f., 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 answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -30.00_-178.125, lapse-corrected +10 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: NASA POWER's cell is mostly sea (0% land), so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.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 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 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 6 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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