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Tropaeolum polyphyllum; photograph Víctor Sarabia Sánchez, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYVíctor Sarabia Sánchez, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Tropaeolum polyphyllum Cav.

Wreath nasturtium

Tropaeolaceae · Argentina Northwest, Chile Central

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Tropaeolum polyphyllum, photograph Víctor Sarabia Sánchez, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFTropaeolum polyphyllum, photograph Philip Precey, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIFTropaeolum polyphyllum, photograph Philip Precey, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIFTropaeolum polyphyllum, photograph Philip Precey, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIFTropaeolum polyphyllum, photograph Philip Precey, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIFTropaeolum polyphyllum, photograph Mirko Duimich, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF 24 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-18.0°C
Record low -23.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
14°C
Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,213mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
20–58DLI
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 November to February (May to August at the habitat), with nights below freezing; no growing season read. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Tropaeolum polyphyllum is a species of flowering plant in the nasturtium family Tropaeolaceae. It is endemic to mountainous regions of Chile and Argentina where it is called in Spanish soldadito grande de la cordillera (great soldier of the mountains).

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Tropaeolum polyphyllum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Tropaeolum

Tropaeolum, commonly known as nasturtium, is a genus of roughly 80 species of annual and perennial herbaceous flowering plants. It was named by Carl Linnaeus in his book Species Plantarum and is the only genus in the family Tropaeolaceae. The nasturtiums received their common name because they produce an oil similar to that of watercress.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a rainy season and no growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (909 mm of 1,212 mm) falls in May to August, the cooler part of the year, but the mean nightly low is below freezing in June, July, August and September, so the rule reads no growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: November to February.

Rain

1,212 mm in the median year at the habitat, 909 mm of it May to August. Wettest month June at 273 mm, driest month January at 19 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 738 mm to 1,565 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,213 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,212 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: 20 to 58 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 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 60).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -18.0 °C, the absolute minimum -23.1 °C, 10,384 frost nights in 44 years, 236.0 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 22.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -10.5 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range -14.1 °C to -5.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 13.9 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -18.0 °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: 51 to 58% 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 -627 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 Tropaeolum polyphyllum through the yearWarmest month February, mean daily high 14 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low -10.5 °C; 1,212 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.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°frost22.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-23.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 20–58RH 51–58%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 69 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 °C13 / 10–1914 / 10–1913 / 9–177 / 4–130 / -4–7-4 / -8–4-4 / -9–2-3 / -7–4-1 / -6–63 / -2–106 / 2–1311 / 7–16
Night °C3 / -1–83 / 0–82 / -2–6-3 / -7–2-8 / -12–-2-10 / -14–-5-11 / -14–-6-10 / -13–-5-9 / -13–-4-7 / -11–-1-4 / -8–20 / -3–5
Rain mm19 / 10–2522 / 12–2831 / 22–4262 / 33–89179 / 92–243273 / 154–361264 / 150–340193 / 113–25083 / 43–12137 / 20–5628 / 17–4021 / 13–30
DLI56 / 55–5850 / 49–5242 / 40–4533 / 29–3624 / 20–2820 / 15–2422 / 17–2629 / 25–3339 / 35–4349 / 46–5356 / 53–5858 / 57–60
RH %53 / 49–5552 / 49–5451 / 48–5452 / 47–5554 / 48–5755 / 48–5853 / 46–5553 / 47–5655 / 49–5858 / 51–6358 / 51–6256 / 50–59
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 69 grid cells holding the 183 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 2458:2198 (-32.925, -70.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -23.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -18.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 22.6 °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 69 distinct grid cells holding 183 of the 183 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2458:2198 (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 -33.00_-70.000, lapse-corrected -627 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 3191 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.
NativeArgentina Northwest, Chile Central · 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-33.384, -70.031 · in the densest population, 208 records (94% of those in range)
Kew's description“tuberous geophyte” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 222 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 183 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 91 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2 km away. 39 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 of the 222 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Tropaeolum polyphyllum, photograph 1did not loadTropaeolum polyphyllum, photograph 2did not loadTropaeolum polyphyllum, photograph 3did not loadTropaeolum polyphyllum, photograph 4did not loadTropaeolum polyphyllum, photograph 5did not loadTropaeolum polyphyllum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Víctor Sarabia Sánchez, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; Philip Precey, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF (4); Mirko Duimich, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF.

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

Schizanthus coccineus Schizanthus coccineus Solanaceae Photo: CC BY, Nolan ExeAlstroemeria spathulata Alstroemeria spathulata Alstroemeriaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Grzegorz GrzejszczakAzorella ruizii Azorella ruizii Apiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Grzegorz GrzejszczakViola atropurpurea Viola atropurpurea Violaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Grzegorz GrzejszczakMutisia sinuata Mutisia sinuata Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Cody HinchliffMontiopsis gilliesii Montiopsis gilliesii Montiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Bruno Alzugaray

Other Tropaeolum 16 in the reference

Tropaeolum austropurpureum Tropaeolum austropurpureum Tropaeolaceae Photo: CC BY, Nicolás LavanderoTropaeolum azureum Tropaeolum azureum Blue nasturtium Photo: CC BY, Constanza Vargas VillegasTropaeolum brachyceras Tropaeolum brachyceras Tropaeolaceae Photo: CC BY, Max AlejandroTropaeolum ciliatum Tropaeolum ciliatum Yellow flame flower Photo: CC BY, Álvaro Ibaceta R.Tropaeolum hookerianum Tropaeolum hookerianum Tropaeolaceae Photo: CC BY, Víctor Sarabia SánchezTropaeolum majus Tropaeolum majus Indian cress Photo: CC BY, Antonio W. SalasTropaeolum minus Tropaeolum minus Dwarf nasturtium Photo: CC BY, Luis Fer JPTropaeolum peltophorum Tropaeolum peltophorum Shield nasturtium Photo: CC0, Eric Haavind-BermanTropaeolum pendulum Tropaeolum pendulum Tropaeolaceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel MesaTropaeolum pentaphyllum Tropaeolum pentaphyllum Ladies' Legs Photo: CC BY, Felipe HortonTropaeolum peregrinum Tropaeolum peregrinum Canary-creeper Photo: CC BY-SA, Noemi GuerreroTropaeolum seemannii Tropaeolum seemannii Tropaeolaceae Photo: CC BY, Thomaz Ricardo Favreto Sinani all 17 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Chymocarpus polyphyllus; Tropaeolum floribundum; Tropaeolum paniculatum; Tropaeolum polyphyllum var. brevicaule; Tropaeolum prostratum and 2 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Tropaeolaceae
Described by
Cav.
Native to
Argentina Northwest, Chile Central
Wild records
222 in range · 91 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
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -33.00_-70.000, lapse-corrected -627 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Tropaeolum polyphyllum Cav. (the item's: IPNI 377405-1, POWO 307934-2)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 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 19 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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