Species
+

Dahlia pinnata Cav.

Dahlia, Dahlia (EN), Großfiedrige Dahlie (DE), Pinnate dahlia

Climate known 62 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 pinnata is a species in the genus Dahlia, family Asteraceae, with the common name garden dahlia. It is the type species of the genus and is widely cultivated.

Text from Wikipedia, “Dahlia pinnata”, 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
Cav.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +1
Wild records
122 in range· 96 open

At a glance

Warmest month
25°C
Apr, mean day; nights 10 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
931mm/yr
7 wet months · peak Jul 198 mm (CHELSA)
Light
31–46DLI
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 September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 931 mm a year, wettest July at 198 mm, driest December at 9 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 46 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -0.5 °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 ? variabilis Desf.; Bidens variabilis (Desf.) Baill.; Bidens variabilis M.Gómez, 1890; Coreopsis crassifolia Sessé & Moc.; Coreopsis georgina Cass. and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September 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 (706 mm of 931 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 16.9 °C against a yearly mean of 15.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

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 931 mm a year, wettest July at 198 mm, driest December at 9 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

931 mm a year at the habitat, 706 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 198 mm, driest December at 9 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 491 mm to 1695 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: 31 to 46 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 46 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 49).

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 -0.5 °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 -0.5 °C, the absolute minimum -6.0 °C, about 5 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 5.8 °C in January (across the envelope cells 2.6 °C to 9.8 °C), warmest day 24.6 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -0.5 °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: 49 to 66% 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 Jan to 25 °C in Apr; 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. 931 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 100 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -6.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 30.7 °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°frost30.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)-6.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 31–46RH 49–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 100 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 / 16–2221 / 17–2323 / 20–2625 / 21–2824 / 21–2922 / 19–2721 / 18–2521 / 18–2520 / 17–2520 / 17–2520 / 17–2319 / 16–22
Night °C6 / 3–106 / 3–108 / 5–1210 / 7–1411 / 8–1612 / 9–1711 / 9–1611 / 9–1611 / 9–1610 / 8–148 / 5–126 / 3–11
Rain mm18 / 9–5114 / 10–4012 / 5–4127 / 7–6161 / 25–129164 / 81–308198 / 93–322188 / 83–312156 / 79–31168 / 39–16716 / 10–649 / 5–50
DLI32 / 26–3438 / 31–3944 / 38–4546 / 41–4944 / 41–4938 / 35–4238 / 34–4037 / 33–4033 / 30–3533 / 29–3533 / 28–3431 / 25–32
RH %53 / 49–6051 / 48–5849 / 45–5750 / 44–5754 / 46–6062 / 56–6764 / 59–6864 / 59–6966 / 61–7062 / 57–6657 / 51–6254 / 50–60

Each figure is the median across the 100 grid cells holding the 120 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 1403:1621 (19.825, -98.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -6.0 °C, 1st-percentile night -0.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.7 °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 100 distinct grid cells holding the 120 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1403:1621 (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 20.00_-98.750, lapse-corrected -5 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2333 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, Ireland, Norway, Germany, Hungary, Baleares, France, Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, Baltic States, Krym, Ukraine, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, Transcaucasus, Assam, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Fiji, Cook Is., Tubuai Is., Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ecuador
Kew's description“tuberous geophyte” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker19.539, -99.301 · in the densest population, 65 records (53% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 122 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 96 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 5 km away. 1562 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 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 122 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dahlia pinnataDahlia pinnataDahlia pinnataDahlia pinnataDahlia pinnataDahlia pinnataDahlia pinnataDahlia pinnata

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Stefano Menchetti, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) Nicollas Michels, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) Andrés Marcelo Restrepo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).

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

Constitutive expression of the ARGOS gene driven by dahlia mosaic virus promoter in tobacco plants
Б. Р. Кулуев, A. V. Knyazev, A. A. Iljassowa, А. В. Чемерис (2011) · Russian Journal of Plant Physiology
Response of Dahlia pinnata L. plant to foliar spray with putrescine and thiamine on growth, flowering and photosynthetic pigments.
Mona H. Mahgoub, Nahed G. Abdel Aziz, A. M. A. Mazhar (2011) · American-Asian-Journal of agricultural & environmental sciences/American-Eurasian journal of agricultural & environmental sciences
Modeling Temperature and Photoperiod Effects on Growth and Development of Dahlia
Jens Jørgen Brøndum, Royal D. Heins (1993) · Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Evaluation of Arsenic-Induced Stress in Dahlia pinnata Cav.: Morphological and Physiological Response
Ali Raza, Aqib Hassan Ali Khan, Ismat Nawaz, Zhiguo Qu (2019) · Soil and Sediment Contamination An International Journal
Production and action pattern of inulinase from Aspergillus Niger-245: hydrolysis of inulin from several sources
Vinícius D’Arcadia Cruz, Juliana Gisele Belote, Márcia Zilioli Belline, Rosane Gonçalves Cruz (1998) · Revista de Microbiologia
A simple model for nondestructive leaf area estimation in bedding plants
F. Giuffrida, Youssef Rouphael, Stefania Toscano, D. Scuderi (2011) · Photosynthetica
Rapid colorimetric detection of Hg 2+ ion by green silver nanoparticles synthesized using Dahlia pinnata leaf extract
Kaushik Roy, Chandan K. Sarkar, Chandan Kumar Ghosh (2015) · Green Processing and Synthesis
Airborne contact dermatitis from Compositae plants in northern India
Siddhartha Sharma, Sukhwinder Kaur (1989) · Contact Dermatitis

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