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Vanda coerulescens; photograph José Esquerre, CC BY-SA, via GBIF CC BY-SAJosé Esquerre, CC BY-SA, via GBIF

Vanda coerulescens Griff.

Orchidaceae · China South-Central, Assam +4 · listed by its genus as an orchid

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Vanda coerulescens, photograph Ito Nugroho, CC BY-SA, via GBIFVanda coerulescens, photograph Badlydrawnboy22, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsVanda coerulescens, photograph Orchi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsVanda coerulescens, photograph Orchi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsVanda coerulescens, photograph Björn S..., CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsVanda coerulescens, photograph Björn S..., CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons 14 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
10.1°C
Record low 5.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
32°C
Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,280mm
8 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
28–43DLI
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 summers: the rain comes May to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 4 records in 4 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Vanda coerulescens, also known as sky-blue vanda, is a species of monopodial orchid native to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, India, eastern Himalayas, southern Yunnan province in China, Myanmar and Thailand.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Vanda coerulescens", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as an orchid, listed under the genus Vanda in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “epiphytic subshrub”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (962 mm of 1,258 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 25.1 °C against a yearly mean of 23.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

Rain

1,258 mm in the median year at the habitat, 962 mm of it May to September. Wettest month September at 225 mm, driest month January at 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,171 mm to 1,640 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,280 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,258 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: 28 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 26, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 10.1 °C, the absolute minimum 5.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 11.9 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 11.5 °C to 18.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.6 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 10.1 °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: 49 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 -272 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.

Group. Listed under the genus Vanda in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “epiphytic subshrub”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 4 records in 4 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Vanda coerulescens through the yearWarmest month April, mean daily high 32 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 11.9 °C; 1,258 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.0°10°20°30°40°36.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER5.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 28–43RH 49–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 4 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 °C24 / 24–2927 / 27–3030 / 30–3132 / 32–3230 / 29–3027 / 27–2927 / 27–2927 / 26–2927 / 26–2927 / 26–2925 / 24–2924 / 23–28
Night °C12 / 12–1913 / 13–2016 / 16–2219 / 19–2421 / 20–2421 / 21–2421 / 20–2421 / 20–2420 / 19–2319 / 18–2216 / 15–2113 / 12–19
Rain mm5 / 4–149 / 7–2716 / 9–5453 / 38–87182 / 164–229161 / 159–215181 / 178–217213 / 207–245225 / 191–302141 / 139–20165 / 57–667 / 6–16
DLI33 / 30–3437 / 35–3842 / 38–4443 / 39–4536 / 33–3931 / 29–3329 / 27–3128 / 26–3030 / 26–3130 / 27–3028 / 26–3129 / 26–32
RH %55 / 54–5751 / 50–5849 / 48–5851 / 50–6062 / 59–6565 / 64–6866 / 65–6866 / 66–7066 / 65–7065 / 63–6860 / 59–6157 / 56–58
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 4 grid cells holding the 4 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 1389:5538 (20.525, 96.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 10.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.6 °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 4 distinct grid cells holding 4 of the 4 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1389:5538 (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 20.50_96.875, lapse-corrected -272 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 897 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.
NativeChina South-Central, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, Myanmar, Thailand · 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 marker22.753, 100.893 · in the densest population, 13 records (48% of those in range)
Kew's description“epiphytic subshrub” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 27 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 4 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 16 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 18 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 23 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 27 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Vanda coerulescens, photograph 1did not loadVanda coerulescens, photograph 2did not loadVanda coerulescens, photograph 3did not loadVanda coerulescens, photograph 4did not loadVanda coerulescens, photograph 5did not loadVanda coerulescens, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Ito Nugroho, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Badlydrawnboy22, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Orchi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2); Björn S..., CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2).

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

Disporum calcaratum Colchicaceae Platycerium wallichii Platycerium wallichii Polypodiaceae Photo: CC BY, Mitch Van DykeGlobba winitii Globba winitii Globba ginger Photo: CC BY-SA, Michael WolfEranthemum tetragonum Eranthemum tetragonum Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, portioidRhaphidophora megaphylla Rhaphidophora megaphylla Araceae Photo: CC BY, Cheryl StinchcombAmalocalyx microlobus Amalocalyx microlobus Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY, Nash Turley

Other Vanda 30 in the reference

Vanda alpina Vanda alpina Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, OrchiVanda ampullacea Vanda ampullacea Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Badlydrawnboy22Vanda bicolor Vanda bicolor Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Wang.QGVanda brunnea Vanda brunnea Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, OrchiVanda celebica Vanda celebica Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Jason AlexanderVanda christensoniana Vanda christensoniana Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Badlydrawnboy22Vanda coelestis Vanda coelestis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, ผู้สร้างสรรค์ผลงาน/ส่งข้อมูลเก็บในคลังข้…Vanda coerulea Vanda coerulea Blue orchid Photo: CC BY, Jigu Vanda concolor Orchidaceae Vanda cristata Vanda cristata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Morten RossVanda curvifolia Vanda curvifolia Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, sunoochi from Sapporo, Hokkaido, JapanVanda denisoniana Vanda denisoniana Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Orchi all 31 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Vanda caerulescens; Vanda coerulescens var. hennisiana; Vanda coerulescens var. vipanii. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Orchidaceae
Described by
Griff.
Native to
China South-Central, Assam, Bangladesh +3
Wild records
27 in range · 16 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; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum; 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 20.50_96.875, lapse-corrected -272 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
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
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 9 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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