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Wittrockia superba; photograph Diogo Luiz, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYDiogo Luiz, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Wittrockia superba Lindm.

Bromeliaceae · Brazil Southeast, Brazil South

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Wittrockia superba, photograph Josh Baryia, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFWittrockia superba, photograph Josh Baryia, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFWittrockia superba, photograph Josh Baryia, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFWittrockia superba, photograph Diogo Luiz, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFWittrockia superba, photograph Diogo Luiz, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFWittrockia superba, photograph Diogo Luiz, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF 24 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
4.1°C
Record low 0.6 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,164mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–35DLI
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 March to September (September to March at the habitat), 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: 6 records in 5 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Wittrockia superba is a species of flowering plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The bromeliad is endemic to the Atlantic Forest biome (Mata Atlantica Brasileira), located in southeastern Brazil. It is native within Paraná (state), Rio de Janeiro (state), Santa Catarina (state), and São Paulo (state).

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Wittrockia superba", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,487 mm of 2,088 mm) falls in September to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.1 °C against a yearly mean of 17.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: March to September.

Rain

2,088 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,487 mm of it September to March. Wettest month January at 285 mm, driest month August at 102 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,885 mm to 2,278 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,164 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,088 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: 16 to 35 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 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 4.1 °C, the absolute minimum 0.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 9.5 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 8.8 °C to 12.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.5 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 4.1 °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: 66 to 71% 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 +173 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

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 6 records in 5 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Wittrockia superba through the yearWarmest month February, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 9.5 °C; 2,088 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.-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°30°35°frost29.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER0.6° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 16–35RH 66–71%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 5 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 °C25 / 25–2726 / 25–2725 / 24–2622 / 22–2519 / 19–2218 / 17–2117 / 17–2019 / 18–2119 / 19–2222 / 21–2323 / 22–2525 / 24–26
Night °C18 / 18–2019 / 18–2118 / 17–2015 / 15–1812 / 11–1510 / 10–1310 / 9–1211 / 10–1312 / 11–1414 / 13–1615 / 15–1817 / 16–19
Rain mm285 / 231–329262 / 212–284197 / 148–242138 / 118–147121 / 118–127109 / 101–158131 / 130–169102 / 90–151169 / 160–203184 / 174–191182 / 148–189208 / 166–234
DLI33 / 32–3832 / 31–3529 / 27–3123 / 22–2518 / 18–2016 / 16–1817 / 16–1922 / 21–2323 / 21–2626 / 26–3232 / 31–3835 / 33–41
RH %70 / 67–7171 / 67–7171 / 66–7270 / 65–7068 / 64–6966 / 63–6767 / 63–6868 / 62–6869 / 64–7070 / 66–7269 / 65–7069 / 66–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 5 grid cells holding the 6 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 2391:2595 (-29.575, -50.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 0.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.3 °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 5 distinct grid cells holding 6 of the 6 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2391:2595 (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 -29.50_-50.000, lapse-corrected +173 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 482 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.
NativeBrazil Southeast, Brazil South · 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-27.741, -48.888 · in the densest population, 65 records (59% of those in range)
Kew's description“epiphyte or perennial” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 111 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 6 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 54 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 41 km away. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 105 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 111 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Wittrockia superba, photograph 1did not loadWittrockia superba, photograph 2did not loadWittrockia superba, photograph 3did not loadWittrockia superba, photograph 4did not loadWittrockia superba, photograph 5did not loadWittrockia superba, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Josh Baryia, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (3); Diogo Luiz, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (3).

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

Nematanthus australis Nematanthus australis Gesneriaceae Photo: CC BY, Patrícia MeesVriesea platynema Vriesea platynema Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Nicollas MichelsNidularium amazonicum Nidularium amazonicum Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, LPBVriesea erythrodactylon Vriesea erythrodactylon Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Paulo MascarettiTillandsia linearis Tillandsia linearis Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Timm StoltenSinningia douglasii Sinningia douglasii Gesneriaceae Photo: CC BY, Fabrício Mil Homens Riella

Other Wittrockia 2 in the reference

Wittrockia cyathiformis Wittrockia cyathiformis Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, topeunaWittrockia gigantea Wittrockia gigantea Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Victor Farjalla Pontes

Names & registers

Also known as Canistrum cruentum; Canistrum superbum; Nidularium superbum; Nidularium wawreanum. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipedia

The record

Family
Bromeliaceae
Described by
Lindm.
Native to
Brazil Southeast, Brazil South
Wild records
111 in range · 54 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 -29.50_-50.000, lapse-corrected +173 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
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 11 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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