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Vanilla somae; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2023-04-08

Vanilla somae Hayata

Orchidaceae · China Southeast, Taiwan +2 · listed by its genus as an orchid

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Vanilla somae, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedVanilla somae, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedVanilla somae, photograph (c) Kiwi Shen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Vanilla somae, photograph (c) 周榮茂, some rights reserved (CC BY)Vanilla somae, photograph (c) 周榮茂, some rights reserved (CC BY)Vanilla somae, photograph (c) 周榮茂, some rights reserved (CC BY) 23 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
5.8°C
Record low -0.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
Jun, Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,394mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–37DLI
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 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

Vanilla somae is a species of Vanilla native to the forests of Taiwan, northern Vietnam and Laos. The scientific names Vanilla albida and Vanilla griffithii are sometimes misapplied to this species, but they are actually three different species.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Vanilla somae", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Vanilla

Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily obtained from the seed pods of the flat-leaved Mexican and Central American vanilla (V. planifolia).

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

Cultivation

Grouped as an orchid, listed under the genus Vanilla in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “climber”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,442 mm of 3,347 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.5 °C against a yearly mean of 19.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.

Rain

3,347 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,442 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 509 mm, driest month January at 92 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,551 mm to 4,485 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,394 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 3,347 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: 16 to 37 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 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 5.8 °C, the absolute minimum -0.1 °C, 1 frost night in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 9.1 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 6.2 °C to 12.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.4 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 5.8 °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: 66 to 68% 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 +582 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 Vanilla in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “climber”. 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

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Vanilla somae through the yearWarmest months June, July and August, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 9.1 °C; 3,347 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°frost30.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-0.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 16–37RH 66–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 42 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 °C16 / 13–1817 / 14–1919 / 17–2122 / 20–2425 / 23–2727 / 24–2927 / 25–3027 / 25–2926 / 23–2823 / 21–2620 / 18–2317 / 14–20
Night °C9 / 6–1311 / 7–1413 / 10–1616 / 13–1918 / 16–2221 / 18–2421 / 18–2421 / 18–2420 / 17–2318 / 15–2114 / 12–1811 / 8–14
Rain mm92 / 50–175171 / 133–237183 / 152–219211 / 161–251347 / 282–429444 / 331–583411 / 307–479447 / 343–529509 / 354–680284 / 97–518150 / 48–33098 / 49–200
DLI16 / 13–2019 / 15–2225 / 21–2829 / 26–3130 / 28–3332 / 30–3437 / 35–3833 / 32–3429 / 27–3124 / 21–2819 / 16–2216 / 13–20
RH %67 / 62–7467 / 63–7467 / 64–7366 / 64–7166 / 64–7166 / 63–7066 / 64–6967 / 65–7068 / 66–7167 / 63–7367 / 62–7466 / 61–74
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 42 grid cells holding the 82 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 1335:6016 (23.225, 120.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 5.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.1 °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 42 distinct grid cells holding 82 of the 82 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1335:6016 (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 23.00_120.625, lapse-corrected +582 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1096 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 Southeast, Taiwan, Laos, Vietnam · 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 marker24.659, 121.294 · in the densest population, 164 records (99% of those in range)
Kew's description“climber” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 166 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 82 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 13 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 5 km away. 84 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 166 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Vanilla somae, photograph 1did not loadVanilla somae, photograph 2did not loadVanilla somae, photograph 3did not loadVanilla somae, photograph 4did not loadVanilla somae, photograph 5did not loadVanilla somae, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Kiwi Shen, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) 周榮茂, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

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

Marsdenia formosana Apocynaceae Acanthophippium striatum Acanthophippium striatum Striped Spiny-Saddle Orchid Photo: CC BY, 黃美滿Eria scabrilinguis Eria scabrilinguis Orchidaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedAralia bipinnata Aralia bipinnata Araliaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedAeschynanthus acuminatus Aeschynanthus acuminatus Gesneriaceae Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好Tetrastigma obtectum Tetrastigma obtectum Hairless Rockvine Photo: CC BY-SA, 許文俊

Other Vanilla 17 in the reference

Vanilla aphylla Vanilla aphylla Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, insect IDVanilla barbellata Vanilla barbellata Wormvine orchid Photo: CC BY-SA, Kurt Miller Vanilla borneensis Orchidaceae Vanilla chamissonis Vanilla chamissonis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Fabrício Mil Homens Riella Vanilla decaryana Orchidaceae Vanilla dilloniana Leafless vanilla Vanilla imperialis Vanilla imperialis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Tim HirschVanilla insignis Vanilla insignis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Miguel ShoVanilla madagascariensis Vanilla madagascariensis Madagascar Vanilla Photo: CC BY, amantedarmaninVanilla odorata Vanilla odorata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, fern WildtruthVanilla palmarum Vanilla palmarum Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Pedro Alvaro NevesVanilla phaeantha Vanilla phaeantha Leafy vanilla Photo: CC BY, Mary all 18 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Miguelia somae; Vanilla griffithii subsp. ronoensis; Vanilla griffithii var. formosana; Vanilla griffithii var. ronoensis; Vanilla ronoensis. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Orchidaceae
Described by
Hayata
Native to
China Southeast, Taiwan, Laos +1
Wild records
166 in range · 13 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 23.00_120.625, lapse-corrected +582 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 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
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 4 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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