Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Trachystemon orientalis; photograph Wouter Hagens, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Public domainWouter Hagens, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don

Boraginaceae · Bulgaria, Turkey-in-Europe +1

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

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Trachystemon orientalis, photograph Wouter Hagens, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsTrachystemon orientalis, photograph Wouter Hagens, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsTrachystemon orientalis, photograph Wouter Hagens, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsTrachystemon orientalis, photograph Wouter Hagens, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsTrachystemon orientalis, photograph Wouter Hagens, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsTrachystemon orientalis, photograph Wouter Hagens, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-2.4°C
Record low -7.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
904mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
9–43DLI
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 winters: the rain comes October to April, read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Trachystemon is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae. The only species is Trachystemon orientalis, commonly known as Abraham-Isaac-Jacob or early-flowering borage.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (658 mm of 922 mm) falls in October to April, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 8.6 °C against a yearly mean of 13.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: April to October.

Rain

922 mm in the median year at the habitat, 658 mm of it October to April. Wettest month December at 120 mm, driest months (2 at 45 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 716 mm to 2,534 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 904 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 922 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: 9 to 43 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 8, 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 -2.4 °C, the absolute minimum -7.4 °C, 756 frost nights in 44 years, 17.2 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 27.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 0.8 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range -5.0 °C to 3.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.5 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -2.4 °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: 61 to 63% 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 +165 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 Trachystemon orientalis through the yearWarmest month August, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 0.8 °C; 922 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°frost27.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-7.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 9–43RH 61–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 183 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 °C7 / 3–97 / 3–910 / 7–1214 / 13–1719 / 17–2223 / 20–2525 / 22–2726 / 23–2722 / 20–2418 / 16–2013 / 10–159 / 5–10
Night °C1 / -5–41 / -5–43 / -2–57 / 2–911 / 7–1316 / 11–1818 / 14–2119 / 14–2116 / 10–1812 / 6–147 / 1–103 / -3–6
Rain mm104 / 72–23385 / 57–19077 / 61–17463 / 47–11756 / 35–12257 / 35–17145 / 30–16245 / 31–20261 / 44–266103 / 79–306106 / 79–297120 / 85–263
DLI11 / 10–1317 / 16–1924 / 23–2632 / 31–3439 / 35–4143 / 37–4442 / 34–4437 / 31–3928 / 25–3019 / 17–2013 / 11–149 / 8–11
RH %63 / 59–6562 / 59–6461 / 60–6361 / 59–6262 / 59–6461 / 58–6662 / 58–6962 / 59–7061 / 59–6863 / 61–6562 / 59–6463 / 58–66
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 183 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (258 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 982:4364 (40.875, 38.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -7.4 °C, 1st-percentile night -2.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 27.8 °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 183 distinct grid cells holding 258 of the 259 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 982:4364 (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 41.00_38.125, lapse-corrected +165 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 406 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 keys of the names Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 3568252 (Daphnopsis cordifolia C.H.Wright & Dewar, 0 records), 4063372 (Trachystemon orientalis (L.) G.Don, 1591 records), 4063747 (Borago orientalis L., 1 record), 5660397 (Nordmannia cordifolia Ledeb. ex Nordm., 0 records), 7397268 (Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don, 374 records), 7897429 (Psilostemon orientalis (L.) DC., 6 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeBulgaria, Turkey-in-Europe, Turkey · introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Germany · 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 marker41.03, 29.228 · in the densest population, 128 records (47% of those in range)
Kew's description“rhizomatous geophyte” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 271 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 258 of them in the land cells it reads, of 259 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 156 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 21 km away. 936 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 12 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 3568252 (Daphnopsis cordifolia C.H.Wright & Dewar): Kew's file holds it as Daphnopsis cordifolia C.H.Wright & Dewar (illegitimate under Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 4063372 (Trachystemon orientalis (L.) G.Don): Kew's file holds it as Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don (accepted); 1,591 records, from GBIF's download.Records also from GBIF's key 4063747 (Borago orientalis L.): Kew's file holds it as Borago orientalis L. (synonym under Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don); 1 record, from GBIF's download.Records also from GBIF's key 5660397 (Nordmannia cordifolia Ledeb. ex Nordm.): Kew's file holds it as Nordmannia cordifolia Ledeb. ex Nordm. (illegitimate under Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 7397268 (Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don): Kew's file holds it as Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don (accepted); 374 records, from GBIF's download.Records also from GBIF's key 7897429 (Psilostemon orientalis (L.) DC.): Kew's file holds it as Psilostemon orientalis (L.) DC. (synonym under Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don); 6 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 271 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Trachystemon orientalis, photograph 1did not loadTrachystemon orientalis, photograph 2did not loadTrachystemon orientalis, photograph 3did not loadTrachystemon orientalis, photograph 4did not loadTrachystemon orientalis, photograph 5did not loadTrachystemon orientalis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Wouter Hagens, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (6).

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

Gelasia villosa Gelasia villosa Villous Viper's Grass Photo: CC BY, Christian BergStachys cretica Stachys cretica Cretan Hedgenettle Photo: CC BY, Marios ThomaPeriploca graeca Periploca graeca Silkvine Photo: CC BY, Сергей ГолубевCrocus pulchellus Crocus pulchellus Hairy Crocus Photo: CC BY, Umut Nuri ErdoğanLinum elegans Linum elegans Linaceae Photo: CC BY, LjažOnopordum tauricum Onopordum tauricum Bull cotton thistle Photo: CC BY, Yves Bas

Names & registers

Also known as Borago constantinopolitana; Psilostemon orientalis; Borago cordifolia; Borago orientalis; Nordmannia cordifolia and 2 more. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Boraginaceae
Described by
(L.) D.Don
Native to
Bulgaria, Turkey-in-Europe, Turkey
Wild records
271 in range · 156 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 Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don (plant_name_id 2437738), 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 answeredasked 2026-10-22this 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; 0 records of GBIF's key 3568252, Daphnopsis cordifolia C.H.Wright & Dewar (Kew's file holds it as Daphnopsis cordifolia C.H.Wright & Dewar (illegitimate under Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don)): GBIF occurrence search API; 1591 records of GBIF's key 4063372, Trachystemon orientalis (L.) G.Don (Kew's file holds it as Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don (accepted)): the GBIF download; 1 record of GBIF's key 4063747, Borago orientalis L. (Kew's file holds it as Borago orientalis L. (synonym under Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don)): the GBIF download; 0 records of GBIF's key 5660397, Nordmannia cordifolia Ledeb. ex Nordm. (Kew's file holds it as Nordmannia cordifolia Ledeb. ex Nordm. (illegitimate under Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don)): GBIF occurrence search API; 374 records of GBIF's key 7397268, Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don (Kew's file holds it as Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don (accepted)): the GBIF download; 6 records of GBIF's key 7897429, Psilostemon orientalis (L.) DC. (Kew's file holds it as Psilostemon orientalis (L.) DC. (synonym under Trachystemon orientalis (L.) D.Don)): the GBIF download; 157 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (113 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 24 at a herbarium, 20 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 41.00_38.125, lapse-corrected +165 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 121212-1, POWO 121212-1
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22Wikipedia redirects Trachystemon orientalis to Trachystemon, this species' genus (Q3005757), which holds one accepted species in Kew's WCVP
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 36 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…