Species
+

Zephyranthes rosea Lindl.

Cuban Zephyrlily, fairy-lily

Climate known 43 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 rosea, commonly known as the Cuban zephyrlily, rosy rain lily, rose fairy lily, rose zephyr lily or the pink rain lily, is a species of rain lily native to Peru and Colombia. They are widely cultivated as ornamentals and have become naturalized in tropical regions worldwide. Like all rain lilies, they are known for blooming only after heavy rains.

Text from Wikipedia, “Zephyranthes rosea”, 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
Lindl.
Native to
Colombia, Peru
Wild records
24 in range· 7 open

At a glance

Warmest month
26°C
Sep, mean day; nights 18 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2137mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Apr 231 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–33DLI
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: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (April to November at the habitat (not shifted)). Habitat rain 2137 mm a year, wettest April at 231 mm, driest January at 92 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 33 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 16.6 °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 Amaryllis carnea Schult. & Schult.f.; Amaryllis rosea (Lindl.) Spreng.; Atamasco rosea (Lindl.) Greene; Atamosco rosea (Lindl.) Greene; Hippeastrum carneum (Schult. & Schult.f.) Christenh. & Byng and 1 more.

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: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (April to November at the habitat (not shifted)).

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

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (1622 mm of 2137 mm) takes 8 months, April to November. Mean temperature moves 1.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

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 2137 mm a year, wettest April at 231 mm, driest January at 92 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2137 mm a year at the habitat, 1622 mm of it April to November. Wettest month April at 231 mm, driest January at 92 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1443 mm to 3650 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: 28 to 33 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 33 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 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

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 16.6 °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 16.6 °C, the absolute minimum 14.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 17.5 °C in July (across the envelope cells 12.9 °C to 23.8 °C), warmest day 25.8 °C in September (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 16.6 °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: 65 to 68% 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 25 °C in Nov to 26 °C in Sep; mean night from 18 °C in Jul to 19 °C in Apr. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 2137 mm of rain a year, most in Apr. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 21 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 14.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.5 °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°32.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)14.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 28–33RH 65–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 21 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 °C25 / 21–3026 / 22–3126 / 22–3026 / 22–3025 / 21–2925 / 21–2925 / 21–2925 / 21–2926 / 21–2925 / 22–2925 / 22–2925 / 21–29
Night °C18 / 14–2418 / 14–2418 / 14–2419 / 15–2418 / 14–2418 / 14–2418 / 13–2418 / 13–2418 / 13–2418 / 14–2418 / 14–2418 / 14–24
Rain mm92 / 18–201118 / 19–235157 / 22–288231 / 81–533206 / 138–389181 / 71–328172 / 38–319173 / 51–295200 / 90–313231 / 163–370228 / 144–315148 / 59–239
DLI31 / 29–3532 / 30–3733 / 29–3931 / 25–3629 / 24–3330 / 25–3631 / 26–3733 / 30–3833 / 28–3829 / 27–3528 / 25–3328 / 26–32
RH %66 / 62–6965 / 60–6965 / 62–6967 / 64–7168 / 64–7167 / 63–7165 / 62–7165 / 61–7068 / 61–6967 / 63–7268 / 64–7367 / 64–71

Each figure is the median across the 21 grid cells holding the 23 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 1733:2069 (3.325, -76.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 14.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 16.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.5 °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 21 distinct grid cells holding the 23 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1733:2069 (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 3.50_-76.250, lapse-corrected -1113 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 999 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.
NativeColombia, Peru· introduced: Tunisia, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles, India, Myanmar, Cocos (Keeling) I., Gilbert Is., Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau-Manihiki, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Cook Is., Line Is., Marquesas, Society Is., Tuamotu, Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Florida, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Turks-Caicos Is., Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is.
Kew's description“bulbous geophyte” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker6.152, -75.655 · in the densest population, 14 records (58% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 24 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 7 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 322 km away. 270 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 1 in-range record is placed to worse than 10 km and stays on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 24 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Zephyranthes roseaZephyranthes roseaZephyranthes roseaZephyranthes roseaZephyranthes roseaZephyranthes roseaZephyranthes roseaZephyranthes rosea

Photographs: (c) EDMILSON FERNANDO JARQUIN LOPEZ, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Alan Rockefeller, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Anthony Batista, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) ahaywood.geo, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) AnnLazaro, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2).

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 rosea, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Green synthesis of Silver oxide nanoparticles using Zephyranthes Rosea flower extract and evaluation of biological activities
G. Maheshwaran, Annadurai Bharathi, M. Selvi, M. Krishna Kumar (2020) · Journal of environmental chemical engineering
(+)-Epimaritidine, an alkaloid from Zephyranthes rosea
Shibnath Ghosal, Ashutosh Ashutosh, Sushma Razdan (1985) · Phytochemistry
Green Synthesis of Nano‐Sized Metal Oxides (Ag2O, CuO, ZnO, MgO, CaO, and TiO2) Using Plant Extract for a Sustainable Environment
Sanjana Afrin Disha, Md. Sahadat Hossain, Md. Lawshan Habib, Samina Ahmed (2025) · Nano Select
Organogenesis and plant regeneration in Zephyranthes rosea Lindl.: Histological and chromosomal study
A. Mujib, Santanu Banerjee, Mehpara Maqsood, Parthadeb Ghosh (2013) · Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology
Enhanced electrochemical performance of bio-derived nickel oxide nanoparticles using Zephyranthes rosea flower extract and investigation on charge storage mechanism
Annadurai Bharathi, G. Maheshwaran, V. Kousalya Devi, M. Krishna Kumar (2022) · Bulletin of Materials Science
Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking Reveal Anti-Asthmatic Potential of Zephyranthes rosea Lindl. in an Ovalbumin-Induced Asthma Model
Amir Ali, Hafiz Majid Rasheed, Siddique Akber Ansari, Shoeb Anwar Ansari (2024) · Pharmaceuticals
Induction of Lili Hujan polyploid (Zephyranthes rosea Lindl.) with ethanolic extract of Tapak Dara leaf (Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. don.) to increase its economic value
Wardana Wardana, Agus Slamet, S. Hafidhawati Andarias, Abd Haris Bahrun (2019) · IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science
Karyotyping in Zephyranthes rosea Lindl. plants derived from tissue culture
Piyanoot Intakarn, Ladda Eksomtramage, Kamnoon Kanchanapoom (1997)
Karakterisasi Morfologi dan Hibridisasi Rain Lily (Zephyranthes sp.)
Eka Fıbrıanty, Ridho Kurniati (2022) · Jurnal Hortikultura Indonesia

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 44 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.