Species
+

Dolichandra unguis-cati (L.) L.G.Lohmann

Anil kab, Cat Claw, Cat's Claw, Cat's Claw Creeper

Climate known 63 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

Dolichandra unguis-cati, commonly known as cat's claw creeper, funnel creeper, or cat's claw trumpet, In Hawai'i it is called hug-me-tight. is a rapidly growing climbing vine belonging to the family Bignoniaceae. It affects all plant layers of the forest ecosystem spreading rapidly both vertically and horizontally.

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

About the genus · Dolichandra

Dolichandra is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to Latin America and the Caribbean. They are climbing lianas with trifid and uncate tendrils. The best-known species is Dolichandra unguis-cati.

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

Family
Bignoniaceae
Described by
(L.) L.G.Lohmann
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +38
Wild records
647 in range· 442 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Mar, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1424mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 147 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–36DLI
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 (September to March and May at the habitat (not shifted)). Habitat rain 1424 mm a year, wettest October at 147 mm, driest April at 95 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 36 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 5.0 °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 Batocydia exoleta Mart. ex DC.; Batocydia unguis (L.) Mart. ex Britton; Batocydia unguis Mart. ex DC.; Batocydia unguis-cati (L.) Mart.; Batocydia unguis-cati (L.) Mart. ex Britton & P.Wilson and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to March and May at the habitat (not shifted)).

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

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (1022 mm of 1424 mm) takes 8 months, September to March and May. Mean temperature moves 1.6 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern 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 1424 mm a year, wettest October at 147 mm, driest April at 95 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1424 mm a year at the habitat, 1022 mm of it September to March and May. Wettest month October at 147 mm, driest April at 95 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 855 mm to 2627 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern 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: 27 to 36 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 36 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 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

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 5.0 °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 5.0 °C, the absolute minimum -0.2 °C, 3 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 18.5 °C in July (across the envelope cells 8.5 °C to 24.9 °C), warmest day 28.2 °C in March (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 5.0 °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: 61 to 63% 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 27 °C in Jun to 28 °C in Mar; mean night from 19 °C in Jul to 20 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1424 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 529 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -0.2 °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°10°20°30°40°50°frost41.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-0.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 27–36RH 61–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 529 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 °C28 / 23–3128 / 24–3128 / 24–3227 / 23–3227 / 19–3227 / 18–3227 / 17–3328 / 19–3328 / 20–3228 / 22–3127 / 23–3028 / 23–31
Night °C20 / 13–2420 / 13–2420 / 14–2419 / 14–2419 / 12–2519 / 9–2519 / 9–2519 / 10–2520 / 11–2520 / 14–2420 / 14–2420 / 13–24
Rain mm120 / 16–257111 / 11–203110 / 13–18795 / 32–192110 / 30–277110 / 19–32097 / 17–297100 / 21–318146 / 49–350147 / 74–332145 / 42–236133 / 28–237
DLI35 / 25–4336 / 30–3934 / 30–4132 / 24–4329 / 19–4227 / 16–4228 / 18–4231 / 23–4132 / 28–3834 / 27–3734 / 26–4133 / 24–43
RH %62 / 57–6762 / 57–6761 / 56–6762 / 57–6663 / 56–6863 / 57–6962 / 56–6861 / 54–6962 / 55–7062 / 57–7061 / 58–6962 / 57–68

Each figure is the median across the 529 grid cells holding the 635 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 2253:2453 (-22.675, -57.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 5.0 °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 529 distinct grid cells holding the 635 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2253:2453 (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 -22.50_-57.500, lapse-corrected +60 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 219 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, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay, Uruguay· introduced: Comoros, Bangladesh, Myanmar, New South Wales, Queensland, New Caledonia, Hawaii, Bermuda
Kew's description“liana” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-34.596, -58.359 · in the densest population, 138 records (21% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 647 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 442 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 364 km away. 944 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 12 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 647 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dolichandra unguis-catiDolichandra unguis-catiDolichandra unguis-catiDolichandra unguis-catiDolichandra unguis-catiDolichandra unguis-catiDolichandra unguis-catiDolichandra unguis-cati

Photographs: (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (4); (c) Francisco Farriols Sarabia, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Don Loarie, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Karina Viera, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

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

Evaluation of acute and subacute toxicity of hydroethanolic extract of Dolichandra unguis-cati L. leaves in rats
Juliana Calil Brondani, Fernanda Ziegler Reginato, Evelyne da Silva Brum, Marina de Souza Vencato (2017) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Investigation of Dolichandra unguis-cati leaves extract as a corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in acid medium
Manohar R. Rathod, S.K. Rajappa, B. M. Praveen, D.K. Bharath (2021) · Current Research in Green and Sustainable Chemistry
Three New Alien Taxa for Europe and a Chorological Update on the Alien Vascular Flora of Calabria (Southern Italy)
Valentina Lucia Astrid Laface, Carmelo María Musarella, Ana Cano-Ortíz, Ricardo Quinto Canas (2020) · Plants
Characterization of soluble acyl-ACP desaturases from Camelina sativa, Macadamia tetraphylla and Dolichandra unguis-cati
Manuel Fernando Rodríguez Rodríguez, Alicia Sánchez‐García, Joaquı́n J. Salas, Rafael Garcés (2015) · Journal of Plant Physiology
A nuclear target sequence capture probe set for phylogeny reconstruction of the charismatic plant family Bignoniaceae
Luiz Henrique M. Fonseca, Mónica M. Carlsen, Paul V. A. Fine, Lúcia G. Lohmann (2023) · Frontiers in Genetics
Noxious to ecosystems, but relevant to pharmacology: Four South African alien invasive plants with pharmacological potential
A.G. Omokhua, B. Madikizela, Abimbola Obemisola Aro, Osariyekemwen Uyi (2018) · South African Journal of Botany
The status of weed biological control in Vanuatu
Michael D. Day, Sylverio Bule (2016) · NeoBiota
Cytotoxicity of Nine Medicinal Plants from San Basilio de Palenque (Colombia) on HepG2 Cells
Karina Caballero-Gallardo, Neda Álvarez-Ortega, Jesús Olivero‐Verbel (2023) · Plants
Biological Control of Invasive Climbing Plants in South Africa
Anthony M. King, Iain D. Paterson, David O. Simelane, L. van der Westhuizen (2021) · African Entomology

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