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Ulmus mexicana; photograph (c) Francisco Emilio Roldán Velasco, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Francisco Emilio Roldán Velasco, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-08

Ulmus mexicana (Liebm.) Planch.

Mexican Elm

Ulmaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +9

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Ulmus mexicana, photograph (c) Francisco Emilio Roldán Velasco, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ulmus mexicana, photograph (c) Francisco Emilio Roldán Velasco, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ulmus mexicana, photograph (c) Francisco Emilio Roldán Velasco, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ulmus mexicana, photograph (c) Francisco Emilio Roldán Velasco, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ulmus mexicana, photograph (c) Jason Alexander, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ulmus mexicana, photograph (c) Chris Conard, some rights reserved (CC BY) 32 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
5.0°C
Record low -3.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,960mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
26–41DLI
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 June to October, 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

Ulmus mexicana, the Mexican elm, is a large tree endemic to Mexico and Central America. It is most commonly found in cloud forest and the higher elevations (800–2,200 m (2,600–7,200 ft)) of tropical rain forest with precipitation levels of 2–4 m (79–157 in) per year, ranging from San Luis Potosi south to Chiapas in Mexico, and from Guatemala to Panama beyond. The tree was first described botanically in 1873.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Ulmus mexicana", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,475 mm of 1,945 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.9 °C against a yearly mean of 18.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Rain

1,945 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,475 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 358 mm, driest month March at 44 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,365 mm to 3,303 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,960 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,945 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: 26 to 41 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 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 5.0 °C, the absolute minimum -3.1 °C, 3 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 11.4 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 7.0 °C to 16.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.4 °C in April and May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 5.0 °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: 61 to 70% 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 +102 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 Ulmus mexicana through the yearWarmest months April and May, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 11.4 °C; 1,945 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°frost35.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-3.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 26–41RH 61–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 176 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 °C21 / 17–2522 / 19–2624 / 21–2825 / 22–2925 / 22–2924 / 21–2823 / 20–2724 / 21–2723 / 20–2622 / 19–2522 / 19–2521 / 18–25
Night °C11 / 7–1612 / 8–1713 / 9–1715 / 11–1916 / 12–2116 / 13–2116 / 12–2016 / 12–2016 / 12–2015 / 11–1913 / 9–1812 / 8–17
Rain mm49 / 5–11745 / 10–9344 / 9–8467 / 24–117129 / 70–288306 / 198–459310 / 208–415308 / 191–492358 / 256–578193 / 132–47480 / 27–26556 / 8–178
DLI27 / 22–3432 / 27–3938 / 32–4441 / 36–4640 / 36–4335 / 30–3835 / 32–3935 / 32–3830 / 28–3329 / 27–3327 / 24–3326 / 21–32
RH %65 / 55–6963 / 54–6861 / 54–6662 / 54–6665 / 59–6869 / 65–7268 / 64–7268 / 64–7270 / 67–7369 / 64–7267 / 59–7066 / 56–69
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 176 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (262 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 1409:1662 (19.525, -96.875). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 5.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.0 °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 176 distinct grid cells holding 262 of the 263 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1409:1662 (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 19.50_-96.875, lapse-corrected +102 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1235 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 Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama · 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 marker19.5, -96.933 · in the densest population, 221 records (53% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 420 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 262 of them in the land cells it reads, of 263 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 362 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 14 km away. 157 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 2° block of the 420 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Ulmus mexicana, photograph 1did not loadUlmus mexicana, photograph 2did not loadUlmus mexicana, photograph 3did not loadUlmus mexicana, photograph 4did not loadUlmus mexicana, photograph 5did not loadUlmus mexicana, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Francisco Emilio Roldán Velasco, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Jason Alexander, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Chris Conard, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Prosthechea ochracea Prosthechea ochracea Ochre Appendage Orchid Photo: CC BY, José Javier Barrios FloresCampyloneurum xalapense Campyloneurum xalapense Polypodiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Valérie75Quercus corrugata Quercus corrugata Fagaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialOestlundia luteorosea Oestlundia luteorosea Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Victor De la CruzSelaginella martensii Selaginella martensii Selaginellaceae Photo: CC BY, Alan RockefellerSalvia xalapensis Salvia xalapensis Xalapan Blue Sage Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Ulmus 27 in the reference

Ulmus alata Ulmus alata Winged elm Photo: CC BY, C FishtahlerUlmus americana Ulmus americana American elm Photo: CC BY, The Wrong IndustryUlmus × androssowii Ulmus × androssowii Narwan Photo: CC0, PedroUlmus bergmanniana Ulmus bergmanniana Ulmaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, PteleaUlmus castaneifolia Ulmus castaneifolia Ulmaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, KenraizUlmus chenmoui Ulmus chenmoui Harbin Elm Photo: Public domain, PteleaUlmus crassifolia Ulmus crassifolia Cedar elm Photo: CC BY, Linda Jo ConnUlmus davidiana Ulmus davidiana Japanese elm Photo: CC BY, Станислав ЧувановUlmus elliptica Ulmus elliptica Ulmaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Larker1Ulmus elongata Ulmus elongata Ulmaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, GaojianguoUlmus glabra Ulmus glabra Wych elm Photo: CC BY, Cyndy Sims (Parr)Ulmus × hollandica Ulmus × hollandica Dutch elm Photo: CC BY-SA, anna_485 all 28 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Chaetoptelea mexicana. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Ulmaceae
Described by
(Liebm.) Planch.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +8
Wild records
420 in range · 362 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; 31 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (28 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 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 19.50_-96.875, lapse-corrected +102 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 65 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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