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Teucrium cubense; photograph (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-07-15

Teucrium cubense Jacq.

Small coastal germander; Coast Germander; West Indian Germander; Coastal germander

Lamiaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf +10

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Teucrium cubense, photograph (c) Jane Weeden, some rights reserved (CC BY)Teucrium cubense, photograph (c) Sam Kieschnick, some rights reserved (CC BY)Teucrium cubense, photograph (c) Sam Kieschnick, some rights reserved (CC BY)Teucrium cubense, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedTeucrium cubense, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedTeucrium cubense, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 64 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
7.6°C
Record low -1.6 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
May and Jun at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,321mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
23–40DLI
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 December to April (June to October 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

Teucrium cubense is a species of flowering plant in the mint family known by the common names small coastal germander and dwarf germander. It is native to a section of the Americas that includes the southwestern - south-central United States (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama), parts of the Caribbean, Mexico, Costa Rica, and southern South America (Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil). In general, the plant has lobed leaves and a flower corolla with a broad lower lobe and smaller lateral lobes. The flower may be white or blue-tinged with purple speckles.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Teucrium cubense", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Teucrium

Teucrium is a cosmopolitan genus of flowering plants in the mint family Lamiaceae, commonly known as germanders. Plants in this genus are perennial herbs or shrubs, with branches that are more or less square in cross-section, leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and flowers arranged in thyrses, the corolla with mostly white to cream-coloured, lobed petals.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (931 mm of 1,297 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.0 °C against a yearly mean of 24.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Rain

1,297 mm in the median year at the habitat, 931 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 266 mm, driest month March at 34 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 929 mm to 1,745 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,321 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,297 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: 23 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 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 7.6 °C, the absolute minimum -1.6 °C, 2 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 40.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 17.4 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 9.1 °C to 20.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 30.5 °C in May and June (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 7.6 °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 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 -25 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 Teucrium cubense through the yearWarmest months May and June, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 17.4 °C; 1,297 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°50°frost40.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-1.6° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 23–40RH 60–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 70 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 °C23 / 22–2725 / 23–2927 / 24–3229 / 26–3431 / 26–3531 / 26–3330 / 24–3230 / 25–3329 / 23–3128 / 23–2926 / 23–2824 / 22–27
Night °C17 / 9–2118 / 10–2120 / 12–2222 / 14–2424 / 16–2525 / 16–2624 / 16–2624 / 16–2624 / 16–2622 / 14–2520 / 11–2318 / 10–22
Rain mm46 / 22–7842 / 18–7234 / 13–5345 / 25–7678 / 54–108163 / 117–225172 / 103–269168 / 99–231266 / 125–328162 / 97–25671 / 26–13450 / 18–87
DLI24 / 20–2728 / 25–3234 / 31–3938 / 35–4340 / 37–4438 / 36–4138 / 35–4237 / 35–3932 / 30–3429 / 27–3125 / 23–2823 / 20–26
RH %63 / 58–6663 / 57–6660 / 56–6561 / 55–6663 / 57–6765 / 62–6865 / 62–6865 / 62–6866 / 63–6964 / 62–6763 / 60–6663 / 59–66

Records on both sides of the equator: the 54 cells at least 10° south of it have seasons six months apart and are left out, not combined into a year no place has. These figures are across the 70 cells that remain: the 70 at least 10° north.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 70 grid cells holding the 80 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 1355:1640 (22.225, -97.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 40.8 °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 70 distinct grid cells holding 80 of the 146 in-range records on the northern side of the equator (70 cells poleward of 10° north, 54 poleward of 10° south: the two sides' seasons are not combined, and cells within 10° of the equator stay in); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1355:1640 (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 22.00_-98.125, lapse-corrected -25 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 3 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 Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti, Turks-Caicos Is., Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Uruguay · 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-31.391, -64.191 · in the densest population, 105 records (48% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 220 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 80 of them in the land cells it reads, of 146 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 175 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 6969 km away. 1348 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 74 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 inside the densest 4° block of the 220 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Teucrium cubense, photograph 1did not loadTeucrium cubense, photograph 2did not loadTeucrium cubense, photograph 3did not loadTeucrium cubense, photograph 4did not loadTeucrium cubense, photograph 5did not loadTeucrium cubense, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Jane Weeden, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Sam Kieschnick, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3).

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

Myrmecophila grandiflora Myrmecophila grandiflora Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Oscar Israel Rodríguez OrtizDicliptera sexangularis Dicliptera sexangularis Sixangle foldwing Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez Marcial Carpodiptera cubensis Malvaceae Solanum diphyllum Solanum diphyllum Twoleaf nightshade Photo: CC BY-SA, Kurt MillerZamia loddigesii Zamia loddigesii Zamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Douglas Caro LopezHeliotropium angiospermum Heliotropium angiospermum Scorpion's-tail Photo: CC BY, Luis Ángel Niño Barreat

Other Teucrium 54 in the reference

Teucrium abutiloides Teucrium abutiloides Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Vítor JorgeTeucrium arduini Teucrium arduini Lamiaceae Photo: CC0, Mirko UbovićTeucrium argutum Teucrium argutum Native Germander Photo: CC BY-SA, Greg TasneyTeucrium aroanium Teucrium aroanium Lamiaceae Photo: CC0, DaderotTeucrium asiaticum Teucrium asiaticum Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Yves BasTeucrium aureum Teucrium aureum Gold germander Photo: CC BY, jeanjacquesgodonTeucrium betonicum Teucrium betonicum Betony Photo: CC BY, Vítor JorgeTeucrium bicolor Teucrium bicolor Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Álvaro Ibaceta R.Teucrium botrys Teucrium botrys Cut-leaved germander Photo: CC BY, Vladimír Fuka Teucrium bracteatum Lamiaceae Teucrium canadense Teucrium canadense American germander Photo: CC BY, Courtney R.Teucrium capitatum Teucrium capitatum Felty Germander Photo: CC BY, L Rose all 55 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Melosmon cubense; Melosmon laevigatum; Teucrium chamaedrifolium; Teucrium cordobense; Teucrium cubense subsp. chamaedrifolium and 8 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
Jacq.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast +9
Wild records
220 in range · 175 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; 63 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (59 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 3 at a zoo; 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 22.00_-98.125, lapse-corrected -25 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 2026-10-22
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 81 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…