Species
+

Zephyranthes citrina Baker

Citron Zephyrlily, Yellow rain lily, yellow zephyrlily

Climate known 74 photographs Bulb, tuber or caudex
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Zephyranthes citrina, is a species of bulbous plant belong to the family Amaryllidaceae, native to Mexico.

Text from Wikipedia, “Zephyranthes citrina”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Zephyranthes

Zephyranthes is a genus of temperate and tropical bulbous plants in the Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae, native to the Americas and widely cultivated as ornamentals. Following the expansion of the genus in 2019, which now includes the genera Habranthus and Sprekelia, there are about 200 recognized species, as well as numerous hybrids and cultivars. Common names for species in this genus include fairy lily, rainflower, zephyr lily, magic lily, Atamasco lily, and rain lily.

Text from Wikipedia, “Zephyranthes”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Amaryllidaceae
Described by
Baker
Native to
Mexico Southeast, Honduras, Panama +3
Wild records
63 in range· 33 open

At a glance

Warmest month
32°C
Jul, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1307mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 206 mm (CHELSA)
Light
24–42DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by Amaryllidaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1307 mm a year, wettest September at 206 mm, driest February at 42 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 42 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 14.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Atamosco eggersiana (Urb.) Britton; Hippeastrum citrinum (Baker) Christenh. & Byng; Zephyranthes eggersiana Urb.; Zephyranthes sulphurea Hort.; Zephyranthes sulphurea Noter.

Cultivation

Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by Amaryllidaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May to October at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (991 mm of 1307 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.4 °C against a yearly mean of 26.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1307 mm a year, wettest September at 206 mm, driest February at 42 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1307 mm a year at the habitat, 991 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 206 mm, driest February at 42 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1019 mm to 1912 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 42 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 42 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 14.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 14.7 °C, the absolute minimum 10.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 19.7 °C in January (across the envelope cells 18.7 °C to 23.2 °C), warmest day 31.5 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Jan to 32 °C in Jul; mean night from 20 °C in Jan to 25 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1307 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 52 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 10.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°36.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)10.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 24–42RH 58–65 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 52 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 25–2928 / 25–3030 / 26–3231 / 27–3531 / 28–3531 / 28–3432 / 28–3431 / 29–3330 / 28–3229 / 28–3128 / 27–3027 / 26–29
Night °C20 / 19–2320 / 19–2322 / 20–2423 / 21–2525 / 23–2625 / 24–2625 / 24–2725 / 24–2724 / 23–2723 / 22–2622 / 21–2520 / 19–24
Rain mm53 / 30–10142 / 25–7943 / 19–6344 / 20–84106 / 76–154188 / 157–272160 / 105–219170 / 130–259206 / 166–313161 / 125–26081 / 46–17853 / 33–131
DLI26 / 25–2931 / 30–3337 / 35–3942 / 39–4442 / 38–4439 / 35–4241 / 36–4439 / 36–4235 / 32–3730 / 29–3226 / 26–2924 / 23–27
RH %60 / 58–6359 / 57–6258 / 55–6158 / 54–6160 / 56–6363 / 60–6563 / 60–6563 / 61–6565 / 63–6763 / 62–6661 / 60–6561 / 59–64

Each figure is the median across the 52 grid cells holding the 63 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1336:1956 (23.175, -82.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.7 °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). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 52 distinct grid cells holding the 63 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1336:1956 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 23.00_-81.875, lapse-corrected -31 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 21 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Southeast, Honduras, Panama, Cayman Is., Cuba, Haiti· introduced: Seychelles, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Tokelau-Manihiki, Cook Is., Hawaii, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, El Salvador, Bahamas, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is.
Kew's description“bulbous geophyte” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker19.926, -90.39 · in the densest population, 25 records (40% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 63 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 33 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 100 km away. 347 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 63 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Zephyranthes citrinaZephyranthes citrinaZephyranthes citrinaZephyranthes citrinaZephyranthes citrinaZephyranthes citrinaZephyranthes citrinaZephyranthes citrina

Photographs: (c) Manu M, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Karthik Thrikkadeeri, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Zephyranthes citrina, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Identification of monocot flora using pollen features through scanning electron microscopy
Saraj Bahadur, Mushtaq Ahmad, Sehrosh Mir, Muhammad Zafar (2018) · Microscopy Research and Technique
Crinane and Lycorane Type Alkaloids from Zephyranthes citrina
María R. Herrera, Alex K. Machocho, Reto Brun, Françesc Viladomat (2001) · Planta Medica
Phytochemical and toxicological evaluation of Zephyranthes citrina
Muhammad Haseeb Ur Rehman, Uzma Saleem, Bashir Ahmad, Memoona Rashid (2022) · Frontiers in Pharmacology
Alkaloide aus Crinum‐, Zephyranthes‐, Leucojum‐ und Clivia‐Arten
Hans‐G. Boit, Werner Döpke, Wolfgang Stender (1957) · Chemische Berichte
Antifungal activity of two alkaloids ofZephyranthes citrinaand their field efficacy against powdery mildew (Erysiphe cichoracearum) of balsam
Udai P. Singh, Leena Gohain, Sudarshan Maurya, Amitabh Singh (2008) · Archives of Phytopathology and Plant Protection
Organoleptic, fluorescence, qualitative and quantitative analysis of bulb extract of Zephyranthes citrina
Jamuna Prakash, S. Vedanayaki (2019) · Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
Reassessment of Zephyranthes (Amaryllidaceae) in the Yucatán Peninsula including a new species, Z. orellanae
Germán Carnevali, R. Duno, José Luís Tapia, Ivonne Maritza Buenaventura Ramírez (2010) · The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society
Cytological Investigations on the Endosperm in Zephyranthes citrina Herb.
Radha Soman Bobby, J. Stephen, N. Omanakumari (2003) · CYTOLOGIA
Synthesis and characterization of pure and carbon incorporated cds and ZnS semiconductor nanoparticles using Zephyranthes Citrina for the removal of methylene blue dye
Nepolraj Amaladoss, Prakash Jayavel, Subramaniam Vedanayaki, Rajendran Muthukumar Sivaraman (2025) · Nanotechnology for Environmental Engineering

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Zephyranthes 3 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 41 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.