Species
+

Choisya ternata Kunth

Mexican Mock Orange, Mexican Orange, Mexican Orange (EN), Mexican Orange Blossom

Climate known 41 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

Choisya ternata is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae, known as Mexican orange blossom or Mexican orange.

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

About the genus · Choisya

Choisya is a small genus of aromatic evergreen shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as Mexican orange due to the similarity of their flowers to those of the closely related orange, both in shape and scent. They are native to southern North America, from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and south through most of Mexico. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Family
Rutaceae
Described by
Kunth
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +1
Wild records
96 in range· 90 open

At a glance

Warmest month
23°C
May, mean day; nights 12 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1322mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 247 mm (CHELSA)
Light
26–41DLI
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 summer growing season, June to October in the northern hemisphere (June to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1322 mm a year, wettest September at 247 mm, driest January at 30 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -1.5 °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 Choisya grandiflora Regel; Juliania caryophillata La Llave; Juliania caryophillata LaLlave & Lex.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to October in the northern hemisphere (June 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 (1015 mm of 1322 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 16.4 °C against a yearly mean of 15.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December 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 1322 mm a year, wettest September at 247 mm, driest January at 30 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1322 mm a year at the habitat, 1015 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 247 mm, driest January at 30 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 606 mm to 1878 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: 26 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 41 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 46).

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 -1.5 °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 -1.5 °C, the absolute minimum -6.8 °C, about 9 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 6.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells 3.9 °C to 10.7 °C), warmest day 22.9 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -1.5 °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: 59 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 17 °C in Jan to 23 °C in May; mean night from 6 °C in Jan to 12 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1322 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 64 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -6.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost33.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)-6.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 26–41RH 59–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 64 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 °C17 / 14–2219 / 16–2321 / 18–2522 / 19–2623 / 20–2622 / 19–2521 / 18–2421 / 18–2520 / 17–2419 / 16–2318 / 16–2317 / 15–22
Night °C6 / 4–117 / 4–128 / 6–1410 / 8–1612 / 9–1712 / 9–1712 / 9–1712 / 9–1712 / 9–1710 / 8–158 / 6–137 / 5–12
Rain mm30 / 11–6430 / 10–5530 / 11–5852 / 24–8080 / 49–129201 / 108–310219 / 105–322204 / 106–289247 / 100–360144 / 47–20853 / 11–8332 / 6–59
DLI27 / 23–3331 / 27–3837 / 33–4440 / 37–4641 / 39–4438 / 36–4037 / 34–4037 / 35–3932 / 29–3530 / 27–3428 / 24–3326 / 22–32
RH %62 / 52–6760 / 50–6659 / 48–6559 / 49–6662 / 53–6766 / 58–7066 / 59–7266 / 60–7268 / 61–7366 / 59–7063 / 55–6762 / 53–66

Each figure is the median across the 64 grid cells holding the 93 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 1327:1602 (23.625, -99.875). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -6.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -1.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.8 °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 64 distinct grid cells holding the 93 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1327:1602 (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 23.50_-100.000, lapse-corrected +169 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1943 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 Southwest· introduced: Great Britain, Madeira
Kew's description“shrub” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker19.671, -97.146 · in the densest population, 71 records (74% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 96 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 90 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 852 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 3 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 of the 96 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Choisya ternataChoisya ternataChoisya ternataChoisya ternataChoisya ternataChoisya ternataChoisya ternataChoisya ternata

Photographs: (c) Alice Shanks, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Lisa Bennett, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Jose Gutierrez Higa, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Joe Dillon, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Nick Butcher, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Mel Whiting, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Phytophthora Species Are Common on Nursery Stock Grown for Restoration and Revegetation Purposes in California
S. Rooney-Latham, C. L. Blomquist, Kathleen Kosta, Yuping Gou (2018) · Plant Disease
Identification of a new antinociceptive alkaloid isopropyl N-methylanthranilate from the essential oil of Choisya ternata Kunth
Niko S. Radulović, Ana B. Miltojević, Michael McDermott, Steve Waldren (2011) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Synthesis, structure and stereochemistry of quinoline alkaloids from Choisya ternata
Derek R. Boyd, Narain D. Sharma, Pui L. Loke, John F. Malone (2007) · Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry
Effects of Methyl and Isopropyl N‐methylanthranilates from Choisya ternata Kunth (Rutaceae) on Experimental Anxiety and Depression in Mice
Niko S. Radulović, Ana B. Miltojević, Pavle J. Randjelović, Nikola M. Stojanović (2012) · Phytotherapy Research
Suitability of native North American Rutaceae to serve as host plants for the Asian citrus psyllid (Hemiptera: Liviidae)
Mamoudou Sétamou, John V. da Graça, J. L. Sandoval (2016) · Journal of Applied Entomology
Modelling the effects of plant species on biocontrol effectiveness in ornamental nursery crops
David J. Skirvin, Michael Williams, J. S. Fenlon, K. D. Sunderland (2002) · Journal of Applied Ecology
Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Choisya ternata Kunth Essential Oil, Ternanthranin, and Its Two Synthetic Analogs (Methyl and Propyl N-Methylanthranilates)
Mariana Martins Gomes Pinheiro, Ana B. Miltojević, Niko S. Radulović, Ikarastika Rahayu Abdul Wahab (2015) · PLoS ONE
Phytophthora terminalis sp. nov. and Phytophthora occultans sp. nov., two invasive pathogens of ornamental plants in Europe
Willem A. Man in ‘t Veld, Karin C.H.M. Rosendahl, Patricia C. J. van Rijswick, Johan Meffert (2015) · Mycologia
Alkaloids of Choisya ternata H.B. & K. (family Rutaceae). The structure of choisyine
SR Johns, JA Lamberton, AA Sioumis (1967) · Australian Journal of Chemistry
Variability in tissue cultures of Choisya ternata. Alkaloid accumulation in protoclones and aggregate clones obtained from established strains
Jocelyne Trémouillaux‐Guiller, Fran�oise Andreu, Jo�l Creche, Jean-Claude Chénieux (1987) · Plant Cell Reports
Biosynthesis of aromatic isoprenoids. Part II. Aromatic hydroxylation in the biosynthesis of the furoquinoline alkaloids, skimmianine, evoxine, and choisyine
Michael F. Grundson, David M. Harrison, Caroline G. Sypropoulos (1974) · Journal of the Chemical Society Perkin Transactions 1

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.

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