Massonia echinata L.f.
Spiky Hedgehog Lily
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.
About the genus · Massonia
Massonia is a genus of bulbous perennial flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. It is native to southern Africa, and is found in localities such as Namaqualand with hot and dry summers, being dormant in summer and growing during winter. The genus Whiteheadia has been merged into Massonia. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Massonia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Massonia amygdalina Baker; Massonia candida Burch.; Massonia candida Burch. ex Baker; Massonia concinna Baker; Massonia huttonii Baker and 11 more.
Cultivation
Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by the genus Massonia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.
Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to February and April to May in the northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (311 mm of 440 mm) takes 8 months, March to August and October to November. Mean temperature moves 11.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: September to February and April to May.
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 440 mm a year, wettest August at 48 mm, driest February at 31 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
440 mm a year at the habitat, 311 mm of it March to August and October to November. Wettest month August at 48 mm, driest February at 31 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 311 mm to 671 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: 19 to 51 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 51 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 56).
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 0.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 0.8 °C, the absolute minimum -3.2 °C, about 2 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 40.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 5.2 °C in July (across the envelope cells 1.6 °C to 11.1 °C), warmest day 28.6 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.8 °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.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 52 to 54% 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
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 29 / 24–31 | 28 / 24–31 | 27 / 22–29 | 24 / 20–25 | 21 / 17–22 | 18 / 13–20 | 17 / 13–20 | 18 / 14–21 | 21 / 17–23 | 23 / 18–25 | 26 / 20–27 | 28 / 22–29 |
| Night °C | 15 / 13–18 | 16 / 14–18 | 15 / 12–17 | 12 / 9–15 | 9 / 6–14 | 6 / 2–12 | 5 / 2–11 | 6 / 2–11 | 8 / 4–12 | 10 / 7–13 | 12 / 9–15 | 14 / 12–17 |
| Rain mm | 33 / 9–62 | 31 / 12–72 | 38 / 21–67 | 42 / 32–63 | 36 / 16–81 | 36 / 15–103 | 38 / 11–113 | 48 / 18–74 | 34 / 17–61 | 37 / 24–72 | 36 / 17–70 | 31 / 18–64 |
| DLI | 50 / 43–56 | 45 / 40–50 | 38 / 33–41 | 29 / 25–31 | 22 / 19–25 | 19 / 16–22 | 20 / 18–23 | 26 / 23–29 | 34 / 30–37 | 42 / 37–45 | 48 / 43–52 | 51 / 46–56 |
| RH % | 53 / 48–62 | 53 / 49–63 | 54 / 49–63 | 54 / 50–61 | 52 / 49–59 | 53 / 50–57 | 52 / 49–57 | 54 / 49–58 | 53 / 48–60 | 53 / 48–61 | 54 / 47–61 | 53 / 47–62 |
Each figure is the median across the 41 grid cells holding the 44 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 2433:3983 (-31.675, 19.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 40.2 °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 41 distinct grid cells holding the 44 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2433:3983 (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_19.375, lapse-corrected -58 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 702 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Massonia echinata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
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.
Anacampseros telephiastrum Large-flowered Sandrose
Crassula cotyledonis Crassulaceae
Adromischus maculatus calico hearts
Ceropegia pulvinata Apocynaceae
Crassula rupestris Concertina Bush
Bulbine mesembryanthoides Stone KopievaOther Massonia 31 in the reference
Massonia amoena Eastern Hedgehog Lily Massonia angustifolia Calvinia Hedgehog Lily
Massonia bakeriana Northern Pustulate Hedgehog Lily
Massonia bifolia Pagoda Lily Massonia calvata Sneeuberg Hedgehog Lily Massonia dentata Nuweveld Hedgehog Lily
Massonia depressa Common Hedgehog Lily
Massonia dregei Collar Hedgehog Lily Massonia etesionamibensis Asparagaceae Massonia gypsicola Kners Hedgehog Lily
Massonia hirsuta Dune Hedgehog Lily Massonia inaequalis Tube Hedgehog Lily all 32 ›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 answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)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 did not answerapi.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivationopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 7 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.