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Tidestromia lanuginosa; photograph (c) Bruce Hartman, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Bruce Hartman, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-20

Tidestromia lanuginosa (Nutt.) Standl.

Honeymat; Woolly tidestromia; Woolly Honeysweet; Honeysweet

Amaranthaceae · Colorado, Illinois +12

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Tidestromia lanuginosa, photograph (c) IDClaire, some rights reserved (CC BY)Tidestromia lanuginosa, photograph (c) Bruce Hartman, some rights reserved (CC BY)Tidestromia lanuginosa, photograph (c) Mark Pollock, some rights reserved (CC BY)Tidestromia lanuginosa, photograph (c) Mark Pollock, some rights reserved (CC BY)Tidestromia lanuginosa, photograph (c) Bruce Hartman, some rights reserved (CC BY)Tidestromia lanuginosa, photograph (c) Bruce Hartman, some rights reserved (CC BY) 66 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-1.7°C
Record low -8.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
35°C
Jun at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
326mm
4 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
21–52DLI
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, December to February and July to October, 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

Tidestromia lanuginosa, commonly known as woolly tidestromia, woolly honeysweet, honeysweet, or honeymat in English and as hierba lanuda, hierba ceniza, or espanta vaqueras in Spanish, is a species of plant in the family Amaranthaceae. It is a low growing annual found in the United States, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Tidestromia lanuginosa", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a rainy season with no name: 70% of the median year's rain (236 mm of 309 mm) falls in December to February and July to October, whose mean temperature, 19.1 °C, is within half a degree of the year's, 19.6 °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: January to April and June to August.

Rain

309 mm in the median year at the habitat, 236 mm of it December to February and July to October. Wettest month August at 55 mm, driest month May at 9 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 210 mm to 559 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 326 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 309 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: 21 to 52 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 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 54).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -1.7 °C, the absolute minimum -8.8 °C, 408 frost nights in 44 years, 9.3 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 44.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 3.7 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -1.8 °C to 9.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 34.6 °C in June (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -1.7 °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: 39 to 50% 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 +120 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, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Tidestromia lanuginosa through the yearWarmest month June, mean daily high 35 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 3.7 °C; 309 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.-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°frost44.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-8.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100mm rainDLI 21–52RH 39–50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 854 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 °C17 / 11–2219 / 13–2422 / 18–2727 / 22–3131 / 27–3535 / 31–3934 / 30–4033 / 30–3931 / 28–3727 / 23–3121 / 16–2517 / 10–22
Night °C4 / -2–105 / 0–118 / 3–1412 / 7–1717 / 13–2021 / 17–2423 / 19–2722 / 19–2719 / 15–2414 / 10–198 / 3–144 / -2–10
Rain mm21 / 12–3420 / 10–3520 / 7–3711 / 6–409 / 3–6716 / 2–7353 / 22–8555 / 29–8638 / 18–7225 / 15–5517 / 9–2724 / 12–36
DLI23 / 20–2629 / 26–3239 / 33–4147 / 40–4852 / 42–5352 / 44–5447 / 44–4943 / 41–4539 / 35–4032 / 28–3425 / 22–2821 / 18–24
RH %50 / 47–5548 / 44–5444 / 41–5240 / 37–5139 / 35–5439 / 33–5547 / 40–5550 / 44–5648 / 42–5747 / 42–5547 / 43–5550 / 47–55
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 854 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (1316 records in those cells; 7 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 1130:1367 (33.475, -111.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -8.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -1.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 44.3 °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 854 distinct grid cells holding 1316 of the 1324 in-range records (7 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1130:1367 (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 33.50_-111.875, lapse-corrected +120 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 614 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.
NativeColorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arizona, California, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Dominican Republic · 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 marker32.638, -111.418 · in the densest population, 614 records (35% of those in range)
Kew's description“annual” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1760 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1316 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1324 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 851 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 22 km away. 4 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 436 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 8298716 (Tidestromia lanuginosa (Nutt.) C.P.Lindl.): Kew's file holds it as Tidestromia lanuginosa (Nutt.) Standl. (accepted); 1 record, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1760 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Tidestromia lanuginosa, photograph 1did not loadTidestromia lanuginosa, photograph 2did not loadTidestromia lanuginosa, photograph 3did not loadTidestromia lanuginosa, photograph 4did not loadTidestromia lanuginosa, photograph 5did not loadTidestromia lanuginosa, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) IDClaire, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Bruce Hartman, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Mark Pollock, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

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

Kallstroemia grandiflora Kallstroemia grandiflora Arizona-poppy Photo: CC BY, Bruce HartmanAyenia filiformis Ayenia filiformis Trans-Pecos ayenia Photo: CC0, author not statedMentzelia longiloba Mentzelia longiloba Many-flowered Mentzelia Photo: CC BY, Bruce HartmanFouquieria splendens Fouquieria splendens Vine-cactus Photo: CC BY, Justin WilliamsAristolochia watsonii Aristolochia watsonii Indian root Photo: CC BY, Ian McFaulVachellia constricta Vachellia constricta Whitethorn acacia Photo: CC BY, CK2AZ

Other Tidestromia 1 in the reference

Tidestromia suffruticosa Tidestromia suffruticosa Honeysweet Photo: CC BY, Kenzie Anderson-Bell

Names & registers

Also known as Achyranthes lanuginosa; Alternanthera lanuginosa; Cladothrix cryptantha; Cladothrix lanuginosa; Tidestromia lanuginosa var. lanuginosa and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Amaranthaceae
Described by
(Nutt.) Standl.
Native to
Colorado, Illinois, Kansas +11
Wild records
1760 in range · 851 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 answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1 record of GBIF's key 8298716, Tidestromia lanuginosa (Nutt.) C.P.Lindl. (Kew's file holds it as Tidestromia lanuginosa (Nutt.) Standl. (accepted)): GBIF occurrence search API; 27 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (24 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 2 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 33.50_-111.875, lapse-corrected +120 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 82 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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