Species
+

Solandra maxima (Moc. & Sessé) P.S.Green

Cup of Gold (EN), cup of gold, cútacua, golden chalice vine

Climate known 76 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

Solandra maxima is a flowering plant in the family Solanaceae. It is also known as cup of gold vine, golden chalice vine, Copa de Oro, or Hawaiian lily, is a vigorous vine which is endemic to Mexico and Central America. It has very large yellow flowers and glossy leaves. It is often planted as an ornamental plant.

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

About the genus · Solandra

Solandra is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. It is named after the Swedish naturalist Daniel C. Solander.

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

Family
Solanaceae
Described by
(Moc. & Sessé) P.S.Green
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +11
Wild records
408 in range· 222 open

At a glance

Warmest month
26°C
Apr, mean day; nights 14 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1480mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 240 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–40DLI
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, June to October in the northern hemisphere (June to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1480 mm a year, wettest September at 240 mm, driest February at 35 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 6.0 °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 Datura maxima Moc. & Sessé ex Dunal; Datura maxima Moc. & Sessé ex Moc. & Sessé; Solandra hartwegii N.E.Br.; Solandra hartwegii N.E.Br. ex C.F.Ball; Solandra selerae Dammer ex Loes.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to October in the northern hemisphere (June 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 (1065 mm of 1480 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.4 °C against a yearly mean of 18.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December 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 1480 mm a year, wettest September at 240 mm, driest February at 35 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1480 mm a year at the habitat, 1065 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 240 mm, driest February at 35 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 716 mm to 3317 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: 30 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 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 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

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 6.0 °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 6.0 °C, the absolute minimum -0.1 °C, 1 frost night in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 11.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells 6.8 °C to 18.3 °C), warmest day 25.7 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 6.0 °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: 60 to 68% 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 22 °C in Dec to 26 °C in Apr; mean night from 11 °C in Jan to 15 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1480 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 296 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -0.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.2 °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°50°frost39.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)-0.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 30–40RH 60–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 296 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 °C22 / 17–2623 / 18–2725 / 18–2926 / 18–3126 / 18–3224 / 18–2923 / 18–2824 / 19–2823 / 19–2822 / 18–2822 / 18–2722 / 17–26
Night °C11 / 7–1812 / 7–1912 / 9–1914 / 10–2115 / 11–2215 / 10–2315 / 10–2215 / 10–2215 / 10–2214 / 10–2113 / 9–2012 / 7–19
Rain mm44 / 9–13135 / 8–12635 / 5–15956 / 5–219117 / 25–344226 / 73–423220 / 57–400213 / 48–444240 / 81–485166 / 50–45277 / 11–27051 / 6–173
DLI32 / 24–3535 / 28–3938 / 32–4540 / 30–4839 / 28–4735 / 27–4035 / 28–4035 / 30–4032 / 28–3631 / 26–3530 / 24–3430 / 22–33
RH %63 / 52–6961 / 50–6860 / 47–6761 / 47–6863 / 51–7067 / 59–7365 / 59–7366 / 58–7368 / 60–7466 / 59–7465 / 55–7264 / 53–71

Each figure is the median across the 296 grid cells holding the 397 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 1381:1532 (20.925, -103.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 6.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.2 °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 296 distinct grid cells holding the 397 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1381:1532 (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 21.00_-103.125, lapse-corrected -484 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1246 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.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia· introduced: Spain, Canary Is., Madeira, Mauritius, Norfolk Is., Fiji, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Venezuela, Ecuador
Kew's description“scrambling shrub” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker19.35, -99.161 · in the densest population, 137 records (34% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 408 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 222 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 55 km away. 733 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 2° block of the 408 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Solandra maximaSolandra maximaSolandra maximaSolandra maximaSolandra maximaSolandra maximaSolandra maximaSolandra maxima

Photographs: (c) Tim, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Yj, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) P Jeganathan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ, 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 Solandra maxima, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

MELOIDOGYNE SPP. INFECTING ORNAMENTAL PLANTS IN FLORIDA
J. A. Brito, Ramandeep Kaur, R. Cetintas, Jason D. Stanley (2010) · Nematropica
Improved Analytical Approach for Determination of Tropane Alkaloids in Leafy Vegetables Based on µ-QuEChERS Combined with HPLC-MS/MS
Lorena González-Gómez, Sonia Morante‐Zarcero, Jorge A. M. Pereira, José S. Câmara (2022) · Toxins
Dades de plantes al·lòctones per a l’est de la península Ibèrica
R. Senar, S. Cardero (2019) · Collectanea Botanica
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))
Composition of the essential oil from the flowers of Solandra maxima (Sessé & Moc.) P.S. Green
Georges Radoias, Alin Bosilcov (2013) · Flavour and Fragrance Journal
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
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.

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