Species
+

Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl

Golden-bell, Hänge-Forsythie (DE), Weeping forsythia, Weeping forsythia (EN)

Climate known 78 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

Forsythia suspensa, commonly known as weeping forsythia or golden-bell, is a species of flowering plant in the family Oleaceae. It is native to China.

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

About the genus · Forsythia

Forsythia, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive family Oleaceae. There are about 11 species, mostly native to Eastern Asia, but one native to Southeastern Europe. Forsythia – also one of the plant's common names – is named after the botanist William Forsyth.

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

Family
Oleaceae
Described by
(Thunb.) Vahl
Native to
China South-Central, Inner Mongolia, China North-Central +1
Wild records
193 in range· 66 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Jul, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
728mm/yr
8 wet months · peak Jul 174 mm (CHELSA)
Light
16–38DLI
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 September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 728 mm a year, wettest July at 174 mm, driest January at 7 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 38 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -9.6 °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 Forsythia fortunei Lindl.; Forsythia giraldiana f. pubescens (Rehder) C.S.Niu; Forsythia sieboldii (Zabel) Dippel; Forsythia suspensa f. atrocaulis Rehder; Forsythia suspensa f. aureovariegata Koehne and 16 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May 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 (566 mm of 728 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.1 °C against a yearly mean of 13.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November 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 728 mm a year, wettest July at 174 mm, driest January at 7 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

728 mm a year at the habitat, 566 mm of it May to September. Wettest month July at 174 mm, driest January at 7 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 514 mm to 1440 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: 16 to 38 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 38 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 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

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 -9.6 °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 -9.6 °C, the absolute minimum -16.2 °C, about 108 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -5.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells -10.5 °C to 0.2 °C), warmest day 29.8 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -9.6 °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: 53 to 62% 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 5 °C in Jan to 30 °C in Jul; mean night from -5 °C in Jan to 21 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 728 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 173 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -16.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost33.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-16.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 16–38RH 53–62 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 173 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 °C5 / -0–88 / 3–1013 / 8–1520 / 16–2225 / 21–2828 / 24–3230 / 26–3228 / 25–3124 / 21–2719 / 15–2212 / 7–166 / 1–10
Night °C-5 / -11–0-3 / -7–22 / -3–68 / 4–1114 / 10–1719 / 15–2121 / 17–2420 / 16–2315 / 11–199 / 4–132 / -3–7-3 / -8–2
Rain mm7 / 3–3712 / 5–5826 / 11–8636 / 24–10466 / 40–15893 / 60–217174 / 111–250145 / 105–21888 / 53–15552 / 24–10021 / 10–608 / 3–30
DLI18 / 15–2023 / 18–2528 / 22–3135 / 27–3737 / 30–3938 / 30–4033 / 31–3731 / 29–3326 / 23–2922 / 18–2418 / 15–1916 / 13–17
RH %53 / 48–6254 / 47–6253 / 46–6153 / 47–6155 / 48–6156 / 51–6362 / 57–6662 / 59–6560 / 55–6457 / 51–6255 / 50–6154 / 48–61

Each figure is the median across the 173 grid cells holding the 192 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 1127:5738 (33.625, 106.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -16.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -9.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.1 °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 173 distinct grid cells holding the 192 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1127:5738 (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 33.50_106.875, lapse-corrected -197 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1197 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.
NativeChina South-Central, Inner Mongolia, China North-Central, China Southeast· introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Baltic States, Japan, Korea, Montana, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, New York, Utah, Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker33.96, 112.03 · in the densest population, 41 records (21% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 193 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 66 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 41 km away. 1055 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 1 in-range record is placed to worse than 10 km and stays 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 193 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Forsythia suspensaForsythia suspensaForsythia suspensaForsythia suspensaForsythia suspensaForsythia suspensaForsythia suspensaForsythia suspensa

Photographs: (c) Jay Pruett, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) a_virginian, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (3).

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

Phytochemistry, pharmacology, quality control and future research of Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl: A review
Zhaoyi Wang, Qing Xia, Xin Liu, Wenxue Liu (2017) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Forsythoside A Mitigates Alzheimer's-like Pathology by Inhibiting Ferroptosis-mediated Neuroinflammation via Nrf2/GPX4 Axis Activation
Chunyue Wang, Shanshan Chen, Hangyu Guo, Hongbo Jiang (2022) · International Journal of Biological Sciences
Lignin Formation in Plants. The Dilemma of Linkage Specificity
Ronald D. Hatfield, Wilfred Vermerris (2001) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Anti-inflammatory and Antimicrobial Effects of Heat-clearing Chinese Herbs: A Current Review
Rekik Ashebir Muluye, Yuhong Bian, Paulos N. Alemu (2014) · Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine
Protective effects of Forsythia suspensa extract against oxidative stress induced by diquat in rats
Tengfei Lu, Xiang‐Lan Piao, Q. Zhang, Ding Wang (2009) · Food and Chemical Toxicology
Hyperoside: A review on its sources, biological activities, and molecular mechanisms
Qi Wang, Hao‐Cheng Wei, Shengjun Zhou, Ying Li (2022) · Phytotherapy Research
Antioxidant and antibacterial activity of two compounds (forsythiaside and forsythin) isolated from Forsythia suspensa
Huanhuan Qu, Yongmin Zhang, Yan Wang, Baixue Li (2008) · Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology
On the stereoselective synthesis of (+)-pinoresinol in Forsythia suspensa from its achiral precursor, coniferyl alcohol
Laurence Davin, Diana L. Bedgar, T. Katayama, Norman Lewis (1992) · Phytochemistry
Anti-inflammatory function of arctiin by inhibiting COX-2 expression via NF-κB pathways
Sungwon Lee, Seulmee Shin, Hyunyul Kim, Shinha Han (2011) · Journal of Inflammation
Ultrasound-assisted extraction of phillyrin from Forsythia suspensa
En-Qin Xia, Xu-Xia Ai, Sheng-Ye Zang, Tingting Guan (2010) · Ultrasonics Sonochemistry

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