Species
+

Erythrostemon gilliesii (Hook.) Klotzsch

Bird of Paradise, Bird-of-paradise shrub, Mysorethorn, bird-of-paradise

Climate known 9 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

Erythrostemon gilliesii is a shrub in the legume family. It is commonly known as bird of paradise, but it is not related to the bird of paradise genus Strelitzia.

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

About the genus · Erythrostemon

Erythrostemon is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. Its native range is tropical & subtropical America.

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

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
(Hook.) Klotzsch
Native to
Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Argentina Northwest +3
Wild records
374 in range· 117 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Jan, mean day; nights 18 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
837mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Mar 124 mm (CHELSA)
Light
17–46DLI
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, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 837 mm a year, wettest March at 124 mm, driest June at 11 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 46 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -1.0 °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 Caesalpinia gilliesii (Hook.) D.Dietr.; Caesalpinia gilliesii (Hook.) Wall., 1830; Caesalpinia macrantha Delile; Erythrostemon gilliesii (Hook.) Link et al.; Poinciana gilliesii Hook. and 2 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, southern).

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 (655 mm of 837 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.8 °C against a yearly mean of 16.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

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 837 mm a year, wettest March at 124 mm, driest June at 11 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

837 mm a year at the habitat, 655 mm of it October to March. Wettest month March at 124 mm, driest June at 11 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 264 mm to 1174 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: 17 to 46 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 17 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 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 54).

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 -1.0 °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 -1.0 °C, the absolute minimum -7.9 °C, about 7 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 5.1 °C in July (across the envelope cells 2.8 °C to 8.2 °C), warmest day 28.3 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -1.0 °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: 54 to 60% 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 15 °C in Jul to 28 °C in Jan; mean night from 5 °C in Jul to 18 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 837 mm of rain a year, most in Mar. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 238 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -7.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.1 °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°frost38.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-7.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 17–46RH 54–60 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 238 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 / 25–3127 / 24–2925 / 23–2721 / 19–2418 / 16–2115 / 13–1915 / 12–1917 / 15–2219 / 16–2323 / 20–2625 / 22–2828 / 25–30
Night °C18 / 15–2117 / 15–2016 / 13–1912 / 10–159 / 7–126 / 4–95 / 3–87 / 4–109 / 6–1112 / 9–1415 / 12–1717 / 14–19
Rain mm123 / 19–194118 / 18–151124 / 22–15870 / 13–11029 / 7–9111 / 4–5718 / 5–5615 / 4–5839 / 6–6672 / 12–122103 / 17–143115 / 15–186
DLI46 / 42–5240 / 38–4632 / 30–3824 / 23–3019 / 17–2417 / 14–2319 / 15–2525 / 21–3032 / 29–3637 / 36–4443 / 41–5146 / 43–54
RH %56 / 51–6158 / 51–6259 / 54–6459 / 54–6360 / 55–6259 / 51–6357 / 51–6255 / 50–6054 / 50–5955 / 50–5955 / 50–5855 / 50–59

Each figure is the median across the 238 grid cells holding the 369 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 2434:2311 (-31.725, -64.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -7.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -1.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.1 °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 238 distinct grid cells holding the 369 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2434:2311 (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 -31.50_-64.375, lapse-corrected -155 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 507 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.
NativeArgentina Northeast, Argentina South, Argentina Northwest, Chile Central, Chile North, Uruguay· introduced: Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Ukraine, Libya, Canary Is., Madeira, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, Namibia, Free State, Northern Provinces, Turkmenistan, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Yemen, India, Pakistan, Oklahoma, Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Mexico Northwest, Puerto Rico
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-31.319, -64.444 · in the densest population, 164 records (44% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 374 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 117 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 47 km away. 1322 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 5 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 2° block of the 374 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Erythrostemon gilliesiiErythrostemon gilliesiiErythrostemon gilliesiiErythrostemon gilliesiiErythrostemon gilliesiiErythrostemon gilliesiiErythrostemon gilliesiiErythrostemon gilliesii

Photographs: Dave Brown, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF; CK2AZ, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (5); Analía Belaus, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF; tokyoisred, CC BY-SA, 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 Erythrostemon gilliesii, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Scent glands in legume flowers
Cristina Marinho, Camila Devicaro de Souza, Thais Cury de Barros, Simone Pádua Teixeira (2013) · Plant Biology
Breaking seed coat dormancy of six tree species
Abdenour Kheloufi, Lahouaria Mounia Mansouri, Nada Aziz, Meriem Sahnoune (2017) · REFORESTA
Pollination and fitness of a hawkmoth-pollinated plant are related to light pollution and tree cover
Julieta Belén Bariles, Andrea A. Cocucci, Florencia Soteras (2021) · Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
Noves dades per a la flora aŀlòctona de Catalunya i del País Valencià
Carlos Gómez‐Bellver, Neus Nualart, Neus Ibáñez Cortina, Carles Burguera (2019) · DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC))
The Fabaceae in Northeastern Mexico (Subfamilies Caesalpinioideae (Excluding Tribe Mimoseae), Cercidoideae, and Detarioideae)
Eduardo Estrada‐Castillón, José ́Ángel Villarreal-Quintanilla, Gerardo Cuéllar-Rodríguez, Leticia Torres-Colín (2024) · Plants
The Fabaceae in northeastern Mexico II (Subfamilies Caesalpinioideae, Cercidoideae, and Detarioideae)
Eduardo Estrada‐Castillón, José ́Ángel Villarreal-Quintanilla, Gerardo Cuéllar-Rodríguez, Juan Antonio Encina-Domínguez (2024) · Preprints.org
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
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 Erythrostemon 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (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 answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: not asked: 12 wild photographs already from the GBIF download
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20
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 89 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.