Species
+

Cestrum nocturnum L.

Dama de noche; Lady of the night, Night jessamine, Night jessamine, Night-blooming Cestrum

Climate known 65 photographs
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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

Cestrum nocturnum, the lady of the night, night-blooming jasmine, night-blooming jessamine, night-scented jessamine, night-scented cestrum, or poisonberry, is a species of plant in the potato family Solanaceae. It is native to Mexico, Central America and northern South America and is naturalized in South Asia.

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

About the genus · Cestrum

Cestrum is a genus of — depending on authority — 150-250 species of flowering plants in the family Solanaceae. They are native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas, from the southernmost United States south to the Bío-Bío Region in central Chile. They are colloquially known as cestrums or jessamines.

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

Family
Solanaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +13
Wild records
866 in range· 740 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Apr, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1810mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 293 mm (CHELSA)
Light
25–40DLI
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: a sharp rainy season, June to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.9 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1810 mm a year, wettest September at 293 mm, driest March at 43 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 13.4 °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 Cestrum graciliflorum Dunal; Cestrum hirtellum Schltdl.; Cestrum leucocarpum Dunal; Cestrum multiflorum Roem. & Schult.; Cestrum nocturnum var. mexicanum O.E.Schulz and 7 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, June to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.9 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

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

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1286 mm of 1810 mm) falls in June to October. The temperature curve is flat, 3.9 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve 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 1810 mm a year, wettest September at 293 mm, driest March at 43 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1810 mm a year at the habitat, 1286 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 293 mm, driest March at 43 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1088 mm to 3322 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: 25 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 25 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 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).

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 13.4 °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 13.4 °C, the absolute minimum 10.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 17.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells 9.1 °C to 20.7 °C), warmest day 28.7 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.4 °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: 60 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 Dec to 29 °C in Apr; mean night from 17 °C in Jan to 21 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1810 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 695 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 10.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 41.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°50°41.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)10.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 25–40RH 60–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 695 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 / 19–2826 / 21–3028 / 22–3129 / 23–3329 / 23–3427 / 22–3227 / 21–3127 / 22–3227 / 21–3126 / 21–2925 / 20–2825 / 19–28
Night °C17 / 9–2118 / 10–2118 / 11–2220 / 12–2321 / 14–2421 / 14–2520 / 13–2420 / 14–2420 / 14–2420 / 13–2319 / 11–2218 / 10–21
Rain mm60 / 10–15046 / 9–12543 / 10–13957 / 23–200137 / 68–327271 / 146–438251 / 131–447256 / 138–461293 / 160–493215 / 104–411114 / 27–29967 / 9–201
DLI27 / 23–3431 / 28–3836 / 33–4340 / 34–4539 / 30–4335 / 27–3935 / 28–4035 / 30–3932 / 28–3529 / 26–3327 / 24–3325 / 22–32
RH %64 / 55–7062 / 54–6860 / 53–6760 / 54–6764 / 56–6967 / 61–7266 / 61–7267 / 61–7268 / 63–7367 / 62–7366 / 59–7265 / 56–71

Each figure is the median across the 695 grid cells holding the 860 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 1450:1759 (17.475, -92.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.1 °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 695 distinct grid cells holding the 860 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1450:1759 (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 17.50_-91.875, lapse-corrected +30 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 228 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 Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, French Guiana, Venezuela, Colombia· introduced: Burundi, Cameroon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, China South-Central, China Southeast, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Philippines, New South Wales, New Zealand North, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Wallis-Futuna Is., Cook Is., Society Is., Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Hawaii, California, Florida, Louisiana, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is.
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker19.494, -96.913 · in the densest population, 586 records (68% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 866 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 740 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 9 km away. 796 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 6 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 866 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cestrum nocturnumCestrum nocturnumCestrum nocturnumCestrum nocturnumCestrum nocturnumCestrum nocturnumCestrum nocturnumCestrum nocturnum

Photographs: (c) Skjold Søndergaard, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Alesha Teitzel, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Geoff, 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 Cestrum nocturnum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antioxidant and antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles synthesized by Cestrum nocturnum
Anand Kumar Keshari, Ragini Srivastava, Payal Singh, Virendra Bahadur Yadav (2018) · Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine
Identification of Floral Compounds of Night-Blooming Jessamine Attractive to Cabbage Looper Moths
Robert R. Heath, Peter J. Landolt, Barbara D. Dueben, B. Lenczewski (1992) · Environmental Entomology
Inhibition of plant pathogens in vitro and in vivo with essential oil and organic extracts of Cestrum nocturnum L.
Sharif M. Al‐Reza, Atiqur Rahman, Yunus Ahmed, Sun Chul Kang (2009) · Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology
Pharmacological Investigation of the Wound Healing Activity of Cestrum nocturnum (L.) Ointment in Wistar Albino Rats
Hemant Nagar, Amit Srivastava, Rajnish Srivastava, Madan Lal Kurmi (2016) · Journal of Pharmaceutics
‘Floral’ scent production by Puccinia rust fungi that mimic flowers
Robert A. Raguso, Barbara A. Roy (1998) · Molecular Ecology
ENDOGENOUS RHYTHM IN OPENING AND ODOR OF FLOWERS OF CESTRUM NOCTURNUM
Lillian Overland (1960) · American Journal of Botany
Chemical composition and inhibitory effect of essential oil and organic extracts of Cestrum nocturnum L. on food‐borne pathogens
Sharif M. Al‐Reza, Atiqur Rahman, Sun Chul Kang (2009) · International Journal of Food Science & Technology
Flavonol Glycosides and Steroidal Saponins from the Leaves of Cestrum nocturnum and Their Cytotoxicity
Yoshihiro Mimaki, Kazuki Watanabe, Yuka Ando, Chiseko Sakuma (2000) · Journal of Natural Products
Steroidal Glycosides from the Leaves of Cestrum nocturnum
Yoshihiro Mimaki, Kazuki Watanabe, Hiroshi Sakagami, Yutaka Sashida (2002) · Journal of Natural Products
Bactericidal Activities of Some Common Herbs in India
Soroj Kumar Chatterjee, Indranil Bhattacharjee, Goutam Chandra (2007) · Pharmaceutical Biology

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 Cestrum 1 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 173 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.