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Sobralia fragrans; photograph Maarten Sepp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAMaarten Sepp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sobralia fragrans Lindl.

Orchidaceae · Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest +13 · listed by its genus as an orchid

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Sobralia fragrans, photograph (c) keesgroenendijk, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sobralia fragrans, photograph (c) keesgroenendijk, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sobralia fragrans, photograph (c) keesgroenendijk, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sobralia fragrans, photograph (c) keesgroenendijk, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sobralia fragrans, photograph (c) keesgroenendijk, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sobralia fragrans, photograph Maarten Sepp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 9 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
15.0°C
Record low 10.2 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,624mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
24–39DLI
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
A rainy season, June to November, neither the cool nor the warm half of the year. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Sobralia fragrans, commonly known as the fragrant sobralia, is a species of orchid found from Mexico to tropical South America.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sobralia fragrans", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as an orchid, listed under the genus Sobralia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “epiphyte or lithophyte”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a rainy season with no name: 70% of the median year's rain (2,016 mm of 2,655 mm) falls in June to November, whose mean temperature, 24.7 °C, is within half a degree of the year's, 24.3 °C, so it is neither the cooler nor the warmer part of the year. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to May.

Rain

2,655 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,016 mm of it June to November. Wettest month September at 399 mm, driest month March at 57 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,237 mm to 4,232 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,624 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,655 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 39 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 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 15.0 °C, the absolute minimum 10.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 18.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 16.2 °C to 22.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 30.6 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.0 °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 70% 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 -132 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.

Group. Listed under the genus Sobralia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “epiphyte or lithophyte”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Sobralia fragrans through the yearWarmest month May, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 18.3 °C; 2,655 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.0°10°20°30°40°50°41.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER10.2° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 24–39RH 60–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 88 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 °C25 / 24–2927 / 25–2929 / 26–3030 / 27–3331 / 26–3329 / 25–3128 / 25–3028 / 25–3028 / 25–3027 / 25–2926 / 24–2826 / 23–29
Night °C18 / 16–2319 / 16–2320 / 17–2321 / 18–2322 / 19–2422 / 19–2321 / 18–2322 / 18–2322 / 18–2321 / 19–2320 / 18–2319 / 17–23
Rain mm95 / 41–24076 / 24–22757 / 38–28280 / 56–369190 / 137–482368 / 255–506378 / 227–497374 / 234–497399 / 258–538294 / 230–490203 / 133–426141 / 105–297
DLI25 / 24–3330 / 27–3535 / 30–3839 / 27–4138 / 25–4033 / 25–3633 / 25–3735 / 27–3832 / 27–3428 / 25–3426 / 23–3124 / 22–31
RH %66 / 63–7164 / 61–6961 / 59–7060 / 59–7162 / 60–7268 / 65–7468 / 64–7468 / 64–7470 / 65–7369 / 65–7467 / 65–7467 / 65–72
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 88 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (126 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is 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 1477:1781 (16.125, -90.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.1 °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 88 distinct grid cells holding 126 of the 127 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1477:1781 (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 16.00_-90.625, lapse-corrected -132 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 160 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, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil North · 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 marker16.721, -91.074 · in the densest population, 94 records (34% of those in range)
Kew's description“epiphyte or lithophyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 273 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 126 of them in the land cells it reads, of 127 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 231 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 7 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 146 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 273 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Sobralia fragrans, photograph 1did not loadSobralia fragrans, photograph 2did not loadSobralia fragrans, photograph 3did not loadSobralia fragrans, photograph 4did not loadSobralia fragrans, photograph 5did not loadSobralia fragrans, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) keesgroenendijk, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); Maarten Sepp, 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.

Maxillaria hedwigiae Maxillaria hedwigiae Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Logan J.L. BradleyZamia variegata Zamia variegata Cycad Photo: CC0, DaderotTillandsia heliconioides Tillandsia heliconioides Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, keesgroenendijkGongora unicolor Gongora unicolor Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, José Javier Barrios FloresEpidendrum flexuosum Epidendrum flexuosum Orchidaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedGongora leucochila Gongora leucochila Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Sean Krieg

Other Sobralia 22 in the reference

Sobralia abel-arayae Orchidaceae Sobralia amabilis Sobralia amabilis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Lauren L.Sobralia atropubescens Sobralia atropubescens Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Frank DietzeSobralia chrysostoma Sobralia chrysostoma Golden-Lipped Sobralia Photo: CC BY, Sean KriegSobralia crocea Sobralia crocea Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Josh NoseworthySobralia decora Sobralia decora Decorative Sobralia Photo: CC BY, Ian AdamsSobralia dichotoma Sobralia dichotoma Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, MarinaSobralia ecuadorana Sobralia ecuadorana Ecuadorian Sobralia Photo: CC0, author not statedSobralia macrantha Sobralia macrantha Large-flowered sobralia Photo: CC BY, José Javier Barrios FloresSobralia macrophylla Sobralia macrophylla Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Emily Turteltaub NelsonSobralia mutisii Sobralia mutisii Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ Sobralia portillae Orchidaceae all 23 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Sobralia eublepharis. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Orchidaceae
Described by
Lindl.
Native to
Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast +12
Wild records
273 in range · 231 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 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 16.00_-90.625, lapse-corrected -132 m at 6.5 °C/km
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 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
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 38 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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