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Talbotia elegans; photograph Kurt Stüber, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAKurt Stüber, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Talbotia elegans Balf.

Velloziaceae · KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Provinces

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

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Talbotia elegans, photograph Kurt Stüber, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsTalbotia elegans, photograph Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsTalbotia elegans, photograph Amada44, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsTalbotia elegans, photograph Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsTalbotia elegans, photograph Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsTalbotia elegans, photograph Averater, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
1.3°C
Record low -2.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Jan at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,082mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
22–38DLI
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 May to September (November to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Xerophyta elegans, previously named Talbotia elegans, is a species of plants in the family Velloziaceae. It is endemic to South Africa and its natural distribution and habitat is restricted to Drakensberg Mountains in Mpumalanga province. The plant is evergreen and similar to other members of its family it is able to express high level or tolerance against desiccation and even long treatment with sulphuric acid. Under wet conditions, its leaves are able to revive and restart its photosynthetic abilities. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Xerophyta elegans", CC BY-SA 4.0; its title is one of this species' older names (GBIF Backbone), which is the proof that the article is this species'.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (815 mm of 1,104 mm) falls in November to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.0 °C against a yearly mean of 15.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to September.

Rain

1,104 mm in the median year at the habitat, 815 mm of it November to March. Wettest month January at 192 mm, driest months (2 at 17 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 870 mm to 1,311 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,082 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,104 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: 22 to 38 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 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 1.3 °C, the absolute minimum -2.9 °C, 46 frost nights in 44 years, 1.0 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 4.6 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range -1.3 °C to 9.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 24.5 °C in January (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 1.3 °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: 53 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. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +144 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 Talbotia elegans through the yearWarmest month January, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 4.6 °C; 1,104 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.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost33.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-2.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 22–38RH 53–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 30 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 / 21–2624 / 20–2623 / 19–2521 / 17–2419 / 14–2217 / 12–2017 / 12–2019 / 14–2222 / 17–2322 / 18–2323 / 19–2424 / 20–25
Night °C15 / 11–1915 / 11–1914 / 9–1811 / 6–168 / 2–135 / -1–105 / -1–96 / 1–119 / 4–1311 / 7–1413 / 8–1614 / 10–18
Rain mm192 / 124–246185 / 111–231136 / 88–16857 / 46–7621 / 17–3417 / 13–2217 / 10–2930 / 18–3846 / 34–66101 / 85–120132 / 112–161170 / 124–202
DLI38 / 35–4036 / 34–3832 / 30–3428 / 26–3125 / 22–2822 / 20–2624 / 21–2728 / 25–3133 / 29–3634 / 30–3736 / 33–4038 / 35–42
RH %66 / 63–6866 / 64–6865 / 62–6761 / 58–6356 / 54–5854 / 51–5553 / 50–5554 / 52–5756 / 53–6161 / 59–6563 / 61–6665 / 62–67
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 30 grid cells holding the 86 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 2298:4216 (-24.925, 30.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -2.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 1.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.0 °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 30 distinct grid cells holding 86 of the 86 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2298:4216 (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 -25.00_30.625, lapse-corrected +144 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1457 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 key of the name Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 2863529 (Xerophyta elegans (Balf.) Baker, 199 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeKwaZulu-Natal, Northern Provinces · 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-29.12, 29.437 · in the densest population, 103 records (83% of those in range)
Kew's description“lithophyte or epiphyte” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 124 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 86 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 55 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 67 km away. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 38 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 2863529 (Xerophyta elegans (Balf.) Baker): Kew's file holds it as Xerophyta elegans (Balf.) Baker (synonym under Talbotia elegans Balf.); 199 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 124 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Talbotia elegans, photograph 1did not loadTalbotia elegans, photograph 2did not loadTalbotia elegans, photograph 3did not loadTalbotia elegans, photograph 4did not loadTalbotia elegans, photograph 5did not loadTalbotia elegans, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Kurt Stüber, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Amada44, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; Averater, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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

Alsophila dregei Alsophila dregei Cyatheaceae Photo: CC BY, Henry de LangeGloriosa modesta Gloriosa modesta Yellow Flamelily Photo: CC BY, Ferncliffe forest wildingEquilabium laxiflorum Equilabium laxiflorum Citronella Slippermint Photo: CC0, Prince MolokommeStrophanthus speciosus Strophanthus speciosus Forest poisonrope Photo: CC BY, Shaun SwanepoelPentanisia prunelloides Pentanisia prunelloides Broadleaf Pentanisia Photo: CC BY-SA, Janet GatesAloe boylei Aloe boylei Boyle's Grass Aloe Photo: CC BY, Morten Ross

Names & registers

Also known as Xerophyta minuta; Xerophyta elegans; Hypoxis barbacenioides; Vellozia elegans var. minor; Talbotiopsis elegans and 3 more. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Velloziaceae
Described by
Balf.
Native to
KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Provinces
Wild records
124 in range · 55 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 Talbotia elegans Balf. (plant_name_id 289906), 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 answeredas of 2026-10-21this 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; 199 records of GBIF's key 2863529, Xerophyta elegans (Balf.) Baker (Kew's file holds it as Xerophyta elegans (Balf.) Baker (synonym under Talbotia elegans Balf.)): the GBIF download
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -25.00_30.625, lapse-corrected +144 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 66942-1, POWO 66942-1
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22Wikipedia redirects Talbotia elegans to Xerophyta elegans, an older name of this species (Xerophyta elegans)
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
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 6 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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