Spiraea thunbergii Siebold ex Blume
Thunberg spiraea, Thunberg's Bridewort, Thunberg's Meadowsweet, Thunberg's meadowsweet (EN)
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
Spiraea thunbergii, commonly known as Thunberg spiraea or Thunberg's meadowsweet, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, native to East China and Japan, and widely cultivated elsewhere.
Text from Wikipedia, “Spiraea thunbergii”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Spiraea
Spiraea, sometimes spelled spirea in common names, and commonly known as meadowsweets or steeplebushes, is a genus of about 80 to 100 species of shrubs in the family Rosaceae. They are native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with the greatest diversity in eastern Asia.
Text from Wikipedia, “Spiraea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Awayus japonicus (Raf.) Raf. ex B.D.Jacks.; Spiraea crenata Thunb.; Spiraea japonica Raf.; Spiraea thompsoni Hort.
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 (1219 mm of 1600 mm) falls in April to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.2 °C against a yearly mean of 14.6 °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 1600 mm a year, wettest September at 212 mm, driest December at 53 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1600 mm a year at the habitat, 1219 mm of it April to October. Wettest month September at 212 mm, driest December at 53 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1332 mm to 2537 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: 15 to 35 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 15 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 37).
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 -4.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -4.1 °C, the absolute minimum -9.2 °C, about 64 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -1.4 °C in January (across the envelope cells -8.7 °C to 2.9 °C), warmest day 28.1 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.1 °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.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 67% 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
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 7 / 1–9 | 8 / 2–9 | 11 / 6–13 | 16 / 13–18 | 21 / 18–22 | 24 / 21–25 | 27 / 24–28 | 28 / 26–30 | 25 / 22–26 | 20 / 17–21 | 15 / 10–16 | 9 / 3–11 |
| Night °C | -1 / -9–3 | -1 / -7–3 | 2 / -2–6 | 8 / 3–11 | 13 / 9–15 | 17 / 14–19 | 21 / 18–23 | 22 / 19–24 | 19 / 15–21 | 13 / 8–15 | 7 / 1–10 | 2 / -5–5 |
| Rain mm | 56 / 36–93 | 67 / 40–119 | 113 / 68–190 | 123 / 83–206 | 144 / 104–254 | 181 / 146–329 | 200 / 153–365 | 188 / 119–318 | 212 / 170–338 | 171 / 89–221 | 92 / 58–152 | 53 / 31–81 |
| DLI | 17 / 16–19 | 22 / 21–24 | 27 / 25–30 | 33 / 31–35 | 35 / 32–37 | 32 / 28–35 | 31 / 28–34 | 32 / 29–35 | 25 / 23–27 | 21 / 19–24 | 17 / 16–18 | 15 / 14–17 |
| RH % | 57 / 54–62 | 57 / 54–61 | 58 / 56–60 | 59 / 56–60 | 61 / 58–63 | 65 / 62–67 | 67 / 64–69 | 66 / 63–68 | 64 / 62–67 | 61 / 59–63 | 59 / 57–62 | 57 / 55–61 |
Each figure is the median across the 189 grid cells holding the 238 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 1088:6386 (35.575, 139.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -9.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.6 °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 189 distinct grid cells holding the 238 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1088:6386 (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 35.50_139.375, lapse-corrected -107 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 126 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) mami_t_t, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Jiro Iguchi, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0 (6).
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 Spiraea thunbergii, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
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.
Osmanthus heterophyllus Chinese-holly
Macleaya cordata Five-seed Plume-poppy
Magnolia stellata Star Magnolia
Rhododendron mucronatum White Azalea
Aucuba japonica Japanese acuba
Deutzia scabra DeutziaOther Spiraea 9 in the reference
Spiraea alba Meadowsweet
Spiraea betulifolia Birch-leaved Meadowsweet
Spiraea cantoniensis Bridal Wreath
Spiraea chamaedryfolia Elm-Leaved Spiraea
Spiraea douglasii Douglas Spiraea
Spiraea prunifolia Bridalwreath Spirea
Spiraea salicifolia Bridal-spray
Spiraea trilobata Asian meadowsweet 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 answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata 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: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 122 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








