Species
+

Malvaviscus penduliflorus Moc. & Sessé ex DC.

Christmas Flower, Datwan, Giant Mexican Turk's Cap, Mar serena

Climate known 55 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

Malvaviscus penduliflorus is a flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It can be found in many tropical places including in the United States, South America, Asia, Australia, and several islands.

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

About the genus · Malvaviscus

Malvaviscus is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. Common names for species in this genus include Turk's cap mallow, wax mallow, sleeping hibiscus, and mazapan. It belongs to a group of genera that differ from the closely related Hibiscus in possessing a fruit divided into 5 separate parts, and having a style surmounted by 10, rather than 5, capitate or capitellate stigmas. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Malvaviscus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Malvaceae
Described by
Moc. & Sessé ex DC.
Native to
Texas, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +13
Wild records
505 in range· 128 open

At a glance

Warmest month
26°C
May, mean day; nights 19 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1836mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 230 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–37DLI
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 November at the habitat (not shifted). Habitat rain 1836 mm a year, wettest September at 230 mm, driest February at 79 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 4.3 °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 Malvaviscus arboreus subsp. penduliflorus (Moc. & Sessé ex DC.) Hadac; Malvaviscus arboreus var. longifolius (Garcke) Schery; Malvaviscus arboreus var. penduliflorus (Moc. & Sessé ex DC.) Schery; Malvaviscus longifolius Garcke; Malvaviscus penduliflorus Moc. & Sessé.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to November at the habitat (not shifted).

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 (1389 mm of 1836 mm) falls in May to November, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.8 °C against a yearly mean of 20.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there 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 1836 mm a year, wettest September at 230 mm, driest February at 79 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1836 mm a year at the habitat, 1389 mm of it May to November. Wettest month September at 230 mm, driest February at 79 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 855 mm to 4089 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: 27 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 37 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 18, 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 4.3 °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 4.3 °C, the absolute minimum -7.1 °C, 23 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 14.4 °C in January (across the envelope cells 8.8 °C to 21.6 °C), warmest day 26.4 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 4.3 °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, without lapse correction; 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: 62 to 67% 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 Dec to 26 °C in May; mean night from 14 °C in Jan to 19 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1836 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 386 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -7.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 37.7 °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°frost37.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)-7.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 27–37RH 62–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 386 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 / 17–2824 / 19–2925 / 20–3026 / 21–3126 / 20–3126 / 20–3226 / 20–3326 / 20–3326 / 20–3125 / 20–2923 / 20–2823 / 18–27
Night °C14 / 9–2215 / 10–2216 / 11–2217 / 13–2319 / 13–2319 / 13–2518 / 12–2518 / 12–2518 / 12–2417 / 12–2316 / 12–2215 / 9–22
Rain mm86 / 13–30779 / 12–28682 / 12–33892 / 32–410167 / 61–442228 / 62–432209 / 54–410208 / 47–438230 / 82–481201 / 75–485146 / 27–391108 / 13–296
DLI30 / 19–3432 / 23–3835 / 29–4137 / 27–4334 / 25–4132 / 24–4134 / 25–4334 / 26–4133 / 26–3629 / 24–3527 / 21–3327 / 18–32
RH %64 / 57–7163 / 56–7162 / 56–7164 / 57–7166 / 59–7367 / 60–7465 / 60–7365 / 60–7367 / 60–7467 / 59–7467 / 58–7466 / 58–72

Each figure is the median across the 386 grid cells holding the 494 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 1281:1650 (25.925, -97.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -7.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.7 °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 386 distinct grid cells holding the 494 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1281:1650 (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 26.00_-97.500, no lapse correction (POWER gave no cell elevation). Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 9 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.
NativeTexas, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru· introduced: Benin, Comoros, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cook Is., Marquesas, Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Marianas, Hawaii, Florida, Bahamas, Cayman Is., Cuba, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is.
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker6.145, -75.602 · in the densest population, 154 records (30% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 505 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 128 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2252 km away. 1212 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 11 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 505 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Malvaviscus penduliflorusMalvaviscus penduliflorusMalvaviscus penduliflorusMalvaviscus penduliflorusMalvaviscus penduliflorusMalvaviscus penduliflorusMalvaviscus penduliflorusMalvaviscus penduliflorus

Photographs: (c) Ana Sánchez, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Michel Pick, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Ana Cristina Almeida, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) Shami Narayanan, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Pilar Navarro Diaz, 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 Malvaviscus penduliflorus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Enhanced performance of dye-sensitized solar cell with thermally stable natural dye-assisted TiO2/MnO2 bilayer-assembled photoanode
Shyamal Datta, Argha Dey, Nayan Ranjan Singha, Subhasis Roy (2020) · Materials for Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Determination by GC-MS of the Hexane Extract Components fromMalvaviscus penduliflorusFlowers Growing in Cuba
David Marrero Delange, Carmen Luisa Morales Rico, Roxana de la Caridad Sierra Pérez, Vı́ctor González Canavaciolo (2012) · Analytical Chemistry Letters
BACTERIAL LEAF SPOT OF MALVAVISCUS PENDULIFLORUS INCITED BY LEVAN-POSITIVE STRAINS OF PSEUDOMONAS VIRIDIFLAVA
Kiomars Rouhrazi, H. Rahimian (2011) · Bīmārīhā-yi giyāhī (Online)/Bīmārīhā-yi giyāhī (Print)
FAMILIA MALVACEAE
Paul A. Fryxell (1993) · Flora del Bajío y de regiones adyacentes/Flora del Bajío y de regiones adyacentes
Bioecology ofPachypeltis maesarumKirkaldy (Hemiptera: Miridae) on Tea,Camellia sinensisL.O. (Kuntze) (Camelliaceae)
K. K. Srikumar, Suman Kumar, B. Radhakrishnan, P. Prabhakaran (2015) · Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society
Extraction and rheological characterization of Malvaviscus penduliflorus (sleeping hibiscus) mucilage
Cecilia Gallardo, Jhonathan David Pazmiño Arteaga, Iván Santiago Enríquez Benavides (2013) · Revista cubana de plantas medicinales
Tamizaje fitoquímico del Malvaviscus penduliflorus que crece en Cuba
Roxana de la Caridad Sierra Pérez, Víctor L. González Canavaciolo, Eduardo Antonio Rodríguez Leyes, David Marrero Delange (2010) · Revista cubana de plantas medicinales

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 Malvaviscus 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 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 70 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.