Species
+

Duranta erecta L.

Adonis, Angel's whisper, Golden dewdrop, Pigeon berry, Skyflower, Azotacaballo, Cuentas de ore

Climate known 50 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

Duranta erecta is a species of flowering shrub in the verbena family Verbenaceae, native from Mexico to South America and the Caribbean. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in tropical and subtropical gardens throughout the world, and has become naturalized in many places. Common names include golden dewdrop, pigeon berry, and skyflower.

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

About the genus · Duranta

Duranta is a genus of flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. It contains 17 species of shrubs and small trees that are native from southern Florida to Mexico and South America. They are commonly cultivated as hedges and ornamental plants.

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

Family
Verbenaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Myanmar, Florida, Mexico Central +27
Wild records
667 in range· 478 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
May, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1273mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 195 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–40DLI
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 summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1273 mm a year, wettest September at 195 mm, driest February at 40 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12.2 °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 Duranta angustifolia Salisb.; Duranta baumgartenii K.Koch; Duranta baumgartii Hibberd; Duranta brachypoda Tod.; Duranta dentata Pers. and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May 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 (961 mm of 1273 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 25.3 °C against a yearly mean of 22.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November 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 1273 mm a year, wettest September at 195 mm, driest February at 40 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1273 mm a year at the habitat, 961 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 195 mm, driest February at 40 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 653 mm to 2564 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: 28 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 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 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

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 12.2 °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 12.2 °C, the absolute minimum 8.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 14.8 °C in January (across the envelope cells 7.2 °C to 23.3 °C), warmest day 28.4 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12.2 °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 64% 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 23 °C in Jan to 28 °C in May; mean night from 15 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1273 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 558 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 8.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°35.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)8.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 28–40RH 59–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 558 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 °C23 / 19–2925 / 20–3026 / 22–3227 / 23–3328 / 23–3328 / 22–3328 / 21–3328 / 21–3328 / 21–3227 / 20–3025 / 20–2924 / 19–28
Night °C15 / 7–2315 / 8–2317 / 10–2418 / 11–2420 / 12–2523 / 12–2523 / 12–2623 / 12–2622 / 12–2520 / 11–2517 / 10–2415 / 8–24
Rain mm46 / 10–10940 / 8–10144 / 5–12261 / 10–166103 / 26–293170 / 71–318175 / 66–286182 / 71–301195 / 81–331136 / 48–32766 / 11–25355 / 6–163
DLI31 / 22–3434 / 27–3838 / 32–4440 / 32–4740 / 29–4738 / 28–4338 / 29–4337 / 30–4134 / 30–3831 / 27–3528 / 23–3328 / 20–32
RH %59 / 52–6759 / 49–6659 / 47–6659 / 47–6762 / 51–6863 / 57–7063 / 58–7064 / 58–7064 / 60–7063 / 57–7161 / 54–7060 / 52–68

Each figure is the median across the 558 grid cells holding the 648 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 1517:1855 (14.125, -87.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 8.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 12.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.0 °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 558 distinct grid cells holding the 648 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1517:1855 (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 14.00_-87.500, lapse-corrected +209 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1110 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.
NativeMyanmar, Florida, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Bahamas, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Colombia· introduced: Sicilia, Algeria, Guinea, Burundi, Central African Republic, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Chad, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, St.Helena, Comoros, Madagascar, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Borneo, Sulawesi, New Guinea, Norfolk Is., Fiji, Vanuatu, Society Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Wake I., Arizona, California, Texas, Louisiana, Bermuda, Bolivia, Ecuador, Galápagos, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Argentina Northeast, Paraguay, Uruguay
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker19.376, -99.137 · in the densest population, 185 records (28% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 667 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 478 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 237 km away. 1069 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 19 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 667 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Duranta erectaDuranta erectaDuranta erectaDuranta erectaDuranta erectaDuranta erectaDuranta erectaDuranta erecta

Photographs: (c) Mario Guzmán, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Robert Taylor, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Swarochi Tathagath, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Green synthesis of zerovalent copper nanoparticles for efficient reduction of toxic azo dyes congo red and methyl orange
Muhammad Ismail, Saima Gul, Mohammad Iqbal Khan, Murad Ali Khan (2018) · Green Processing and Synthesis
Relationship between floral tube length and nectar robbing in Duranta erecta L. (Verbenaceae)
Luis Navarro, Rodrigo Medel (2009) · Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
Phytochemical, Antimicrobial, and Antioxidant Profiles of Duranta erecta L. Parts
Shadrack Donkor, Christopher Larbie, Gustav Komlaga, Benjamin Obukowho Emikpe (2019) · Biochemistry Research International
Iridoid glucosides from the leaves and stems of Duranta erecta
Yoshio Takeda, Youko Morimoto, Takashi Matsumoto, Choei Ogimi (1995) · Phytochemistry
Morphophysiological responses and mechanisms of salt tolerance in four ornamental perennial species under tropical climate
Claudivan Feitosa de Lacerda, Emanuele Victor de Oliveira, Antônia Leila Rocha Neves, Hans R. Gheyi (2020) · Revista Brasileira de Engenharia Agrícola e Ambiental
Microscopic investigation of palyno‐morphological features of melliferous flora of Lakki Marwat district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Shabir Ahmad, Muhammad Zafar, Mushtaq Ahmad, Lubna (2019) · Microscopy Research and Technique
Patho-physiological evaluation of Duranta erecta for the treatment of urolithiasis
Sachin B. Agawane, Vidya S. Gupta, Mahesh J. Kulkarni, Asish K. Bhattacharya (2018) · Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine
Postestablishment Landscape Performance of Florida Native and Exotic Shrubs Under Irrigated and Nonirrigated Conditions
S.M. Scheiber, Edward F. Gilman, David R. Sandrock, Maria Paz (2008) · HortTechnology
Effects of rooting media and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) concentration on rooting and shoot development of Duranta erecta tip cuttings
Shiri Mejury, Marjorie Mudyiwa Ruvimbo, Takawira Marjory, Collen Musara (2019) · African Journal of Plant Science

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 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (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 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; 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 106 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.