Species
+

Dahlia imperialis Roezl

tree dahlia

Climate known 18 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

Dahlia imperialis, or bell tree dahlia, is a large flowering plant of the family Asteraceae, native to the Americas.

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

About the genus · Dahlia

Dahlia is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico and Central America. Dahlias are members of the Asteraceae family of dicotyledonous plants, its relatives include the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, and zinnia. There are 49 species of dahlia, with flowers in almost every hue, with hybrids commonly grown as garden plants.

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

Family
Asteraceae
Described by
Roezl
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +9
Wild records
808 in range· 227 open

At a glance

Warmest month
22°C
Apr, mean day; nights 11 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1741mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 267 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–40DLI
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, May to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.7 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1741 mm a year, wettest June at 267 mm, driest January at 35 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 2.8 °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 Dahlia arborea C.Huber; Dahlia dumicola Klatt; Dahlia lehmannii Hieron.; Dahlia lehmannii var. leucantha Sherff; Dahlia maximiliana Anon. and 1 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.7 °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 (1366 mm of 1741 mm) falls in May to October. The temperature curve is flat, 2.7 °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 1741 mm a year, wettest June at 267 mm, driest January at 35 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1741 mm a year at the habitat, 1366 mm of it May to October. Wettest month June at 267 mm, driest January at 35 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 798 mm to 3903 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: 30 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 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 25, 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 2.8 °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 2.8 °C, the absolute minimum -1.6 °C, 11 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 8.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells 3.8 °C to 13.5 °C), warmest day 21.6 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 2.8 °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 19 °C in Nov to 22 °C in Apr; mean night from 9 °C in Jan to 12 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1741 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 416 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -1.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 29.4 °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°frost29.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)-1.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 30–40RH 59–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 416 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 °C19 / 15–2320 / 16–2421 / 17–2522 / 17–2621 / 16–2620 / 16–2419 / 16–2320 / 16–2419 / 16–2319 / 16–2319 / 15–2319 / 15–23
Night °C9 / 4–149 / 4–1410 / 6–1411 / 7–1611 / 8–1612 / 8–1611 / 7–1611 / 7–1611 / 8–1610 / 7–1510 / 6–159 / 4–14
Rain mm35 / 9–16237 / 10–15455 / 11–19594 / 27–273175 / 58–439267 / 86–545238 / 69–450246 / 67–497264 / 84–612176 / 62–510103 / 15–33751 / 8–226
DLI32 / 27–3536 / 30–3939 / 31–4440 / 27–4636 / 26–4431 / 25–3934 / 26–3934 / 28–3831 / 27–3630 / 26–3530 / 25–3430 / 26–33
RH %60 / 53–6959 / 51–6859 / 48–6861 / 49–6964 / 54–7067 / 60–7266 / 61–7166 / 60–7168 / 61–7266 / 61–7264 / 57–7162 / 54–69

Each figure is the median across the 416 grid cells holding the 786 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 1463:1750 (16.825, -92.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 2.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.4 °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 416 distinct grid cells holding the 786 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1463:1750 (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 17.00_-92.500, lapse-corrected +709 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1978 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, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia· introduced: Portugal, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Queensland, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru
Kew's description“scrambling shrub or tree” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker16.742, -92.624 · in the densest population, 417 records (52% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 808 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 227 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 16 km away. 148 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 22 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 808 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dahlia imperialisDahlia imperialisDahlia imperialisDahlia imperialisDahlia imperialisDahlia imperialisDahlia imperialisDahlia imperialis

Photographs: Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; dannali, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF (4); GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (2); Juanito Escamilla, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF.

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

Isolated Sieve Tube(S)/Elements in the Barks of Some Angiosperms
Ramesh R. Chavan, JJ Shah, K.R. Patel (1983) · IAWA Journal - KU Leuven/IAWA Journal
Vegetación nativa como factor de control de erosión y restauración ecológica, San José, Costa Rica
Virginia Alvarado-García, María Auxiliadora Zúñiga Amador (2018) · La Calera
Inulin from tubers of Dahlia imperialis Roetz
Bernal, Beatriz, Jairo Calle, Elcy Duarte, Pizón, Roberto (2005) · Magazine Portal Bibliotech Digital (Universidad Nacional de Colombia)
Efecto del secado en la concentración de compuestos bioactivos y la actividad antioxidante de plantas forrajeras
Jonathan Granja-Cabrera, Robinson Timaná, Oswaldo Osorio, Karen Paredes (2025) · TecnoLógicas
Chemical Composition of Essential Oils of Dahlia imperialis (Asteraceae) Growing Wild in Costa Rica
José F. Cicció, Carlos Chaverri (2022) · Journal of the Mexican Chemical Society
Palynological Studies to Determine Pollen Resources of Bombus haemorrhoidalis Smith
Narinderjit Singh, Kiran Rana, Harish Kumar Sharma, Meena Thakur (2017) · International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences
Evaluación de la selectividad de especies arbóreas con potencial forrajero en bovinos en ecosistemas de bosque húmedo premontano
Ana María Ayala Russi, J.C. Camacho, Alexander Navas Panadero, Javier Gonzales Guarín (2015)
Inulina a partir de Dahlia imperialis Roetz
Beatriz Bernal, Jairo Calle, Elcy Duarte, Roberto Pizón (2005) · Repositorio Institucional UN - Biblioteca Digital
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility

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 Dahlia 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 not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: not asked: 14 wild photographs already from the GBIF download
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: filled 2026-09-20
commons 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)
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 51 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.