Species
+

Amsonia tabernaemontana Walter

Eastern bluestar, Texas-star, bluestar, eastern bluestar

Climate known 69 photographs
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

Amsonia tabernaemontana, the eastern bluestar, is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, found in central and eastern North America.

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

About the genus · Amsonia

Amsonia is a genus of flowering plants in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1788. It is native primarily to North America with one species in East Asia and another in the eastern Mediterranean. It was named in honor of the American physician John Amson. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Amsonia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Apocynaceae
Described by
Walter
Native to
Illinois, Iowa, Kansas +16
Wild records
1519 in range· 610 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Jul, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1249mm/yr
12 wet months · peak May 125 mm (CHELSA)
Light
14–40DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to July, September and November to December in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1249 mm a year, wettest May at 125 mm, driest January at 91 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -9.4 °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 Amsonia amsonia (L.) Britton; Amsonia glaberrima Woodson; Amsonia latifolia Michx.; Amsonia salicifolia var. ciliolata A.DC.; Amsonia tristis Sm. and 4 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to July, September and November to December in the northern hemisphere).

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

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (875 mm of 1249 mm) takes 8 months, March to July, September and November to December. Mean temperature moves 22.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to January, March and May to June.

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 1249 mm a year, wettest May at 125 mm, driest January at 91 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1249 mm a year at the habitat, 875 mm of it March to July, September and November to December. Wettest month May at 125 mm, driest January at 91 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1063 mm to 1496 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: 14 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 40 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 12, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

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 -9.4 °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 -9.4 °C, the absolute minimum -22.7 °C, about 65 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 0.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells -3.9 °C to 5.2 °C), warmest day 31.4 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -9.4 °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: 56 to 59% 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 9 °C in Jan to 31 °C in Jul; mean night from 0 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1249 mm of rain a year, most in May. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1049 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -22.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 37.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-40°-20°20°40°frost37.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)-22.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 14–40RH 56–59 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1049 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 °C9 / 5–1512 / 8–1716 / 13–2121 / 19–2525 / 23–2930 / 27–3231 / 29–3331 / 29–3327 / 25–3022 / 19–2616 / 13–2010 / 6–16
Night °C0 / -4–52 / -2–76 / 2–1010 / 8–1415 / 13–1920 / 18–2222 / 20–2421 / 19–2418 / 16–2112 / 10–167 / 4–112 / -2–7
Rain mm91 / 54–13593 / 59–143111 / 80–139109 / 83–129125 / 94–151112 / 97–142112 / 90–13895 / 72–12698 / 81–12595 / 79–130107 / 79–130101 / 67–148
DLI16 / 14–1821 / 20–2328 / 27–2935 / 33–3738 / 37–3940 / 39–4140 / 38–4237 / 34–3931 / 29–3224 / 22–2617 / 15–2014 / 12–17
RH %58 / 57–5957 / 56–5956 / 55–5856 / 54–5758 / 56–6059 / 57–6159 / 57–6259 / 56–6158 / 56–6057 / 56–5858 / 57–5959 / 57–60

Each figure is the median across the 1049 grid cells holding the 1382 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 1099:1893 (35.025, -85.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -22.7 °C, 1st-percentile night -9.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.4 °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 1049 distinct grid cells holding the 1382 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1099:1893 (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 35.00_-85.625, lapse-corrected -144 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 239 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.
NativeIllinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Indiana, Nevada, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia· introduced: Italy, Belarus, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker35.833, -93.633 · in the densest population, 1042 records (69% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1519 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 610 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 502 km away. 245 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 137 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay 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 4° block of the 1519 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Amsonia tabernaemontanaAmsonia tabernaemontanaAmsonia tabernaemontanaAmsonia tabernaemontanaAmsonia tabernaemontanaAmsonia tabernaemontanaAmsonia tabernaemontanaAmsonia tabernaemontana

Photographs: (c) Michelle W. (鍾偉瑋), some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Chris Stahl, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Michael J. Papay, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons 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 Amsonia tabernaemontana, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Enantiomeric Natural Products: Occurrence and Biogenesis
Jennifer M. Finefield, David H. Sherman, Martin Kreitman, Robert M. Williams (2012) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Fischer indole synthesis applied to the total synthesis of natural products
Majid M. Heravi, Sahar Rohani, Vahideh Zadsirjan, Nazli Zahedi (2017) · RSC Advances
A second update to the checklist of the vascular flora alien to Italy
Gabriele Galasso, Fabio Conti, Lorenzo Peruzzi, Alessandro Alessandrini (2024) · Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology
SIX INDEPENDENT LOSSES OF THE CHLOROPLAST DNArpl2 INTRON IN DICOTYLEDONS: MOLECULAR AND PHYLOGENETIC IMPLICATIONS
Stephen R. Downie, Richard G. Olmstead, Gérard Zurawski, Douglas E. Soltis (1991) · Evolution
The biosynthesis of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids from strictosidine
Naotaka Nagakura, M. Rüffer, Meinhart H. Zenk (1979) · Journal of the Chemical Society Perkin Transactions 1
The National Wetland Plant List
Robert W. Lichvar (2012)
Enantiomere Naturstoffe: Vorkommen und Biogenese
Jennifer M. Finefield, David H. Sherman, Martin Kreitman, Robert M. Williams (2012) · Angewandte Chemie
A checklist of New York State plants
Richard S. Mitchell (1986) · Bulletin - New York State Museum
Plant selection for rain gardens: Response to simulated cyclical flooding of 15 perennial species
Jia Yuan, Nigel Dunnett (2018) · Urban forestry & urban greening
Analysis of Indole Alkaloids from Rhazya stricta Hairy Roots by Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
Amir Akhgari, Into Laakso, Tuulikki Seppänen‐Laakso, Teijo Yrjönen (2015) · Molecules

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 Amsonia 2 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); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
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); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (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 92 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.