Species
+

Solanum melongena L.

Aubergine, Aubergine (DE); Berenjena (ES); Eggplant (EN), Beigani, Demba

Climate known 60 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

Solanum melongena is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae, grown worldwide for its edible fruit, typically used as a vegetable in cooking. It is known by a number of names, including eggplant, aubergine, and brinjal.

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

About the genus · Solanum

Solanum is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant. It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solanaceae, comprising around 1,500 species. It also contains the so-called horse nettles, as well as numerous plants cultivated for their ornamental flowers and fruit.

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

Family
Solanaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mauritius, Madagascar, Réunion +21
Wild records
555 in range· 446 open

At a glance

Warmest month
34°C
Apr, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1381mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Jul 293 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–41DLI
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 1381 mm a year, wettest July at 293 mm, driest December at 12 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 11.0 °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 ? giganteum Alef.; ? leucoum Alef.; ? stenoleucum Alef.; ? variegatum Alef.; ? violaceum Alef. and 45 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 (1094 mm of 1381 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.9 °C against a yearly mean of 25.5 °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 1381 mm a year, wettest July at 293 mm, driest December at 12 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1381 mm a year at the habitat, 1094 mm of it May to September. Wettest month July at 293 mm, driest December at 12 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 811 mm to 2918 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 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 41 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 47).

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 11.0 °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 11.0 °C, the absolute minimum 8.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 14.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells 7.5 °C to 22.6 °C), warmest day 33.6 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 11.0 °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, 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: 54 to 66% 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 26 °C in Dec to 34 °C in Apr; mean night from 14 °C in Jan to 25 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1381 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 529 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 8.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°50°36.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)8.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 27–41RH 54–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 529 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 °C26 / 18–3028 / 20–3232 / 24–3534 / 27–3833 / 28–4031 / 28–3730 / 27–3330 / 27–3230 / 27–3230 / 26–3228 / 23–3026 / 20–29
Night °C14 / 8–2316 / 10–2320 / 14–2423 / 18–2625 / 20–2725 / 21–2725 / 21–2624 / 21–2624 / 20–2521 / 17–2418 / 13–2415 / 9–23
Rain mm14 / 4–9118 / 4–9029 / 8–10959 / 6–183129 / 14–316179 / 63–465293 / 96–583275 / 94–500218 / 91–366121 / 28–28234 / 6–20912 / 5–135
DLI30 / 23–3534 / 28–3940 / 33–4341 / 34–4638 / 31–4733 / 26–4028 / 24–3427 / 23–3530 / 26–3531 / 27–3529 / 25–3227 / 22–32
RH %56 / 50–6554 / 46–6554 / 42–6557 / 40–6561 / 43–6764 / 52–6966 / 60–7166 / 62–7165 / 60–6962 / 51–6858 / 50–6656 / 50–65

Each figure is the median across the 529 grid cells holding the 547 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 1352:5441 (22.375, 92.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 8.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 11.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.4 °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 529 distinct grid cells holding the 547 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1352:5441 (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 22.50_91.875, no lapse correction (POWER gave no cell elevation). Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 34 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.
NativeMauritius, Madagascar, Réunion, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Laos, Myanmar, South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Philippines, Sulawesi· introduced: Zaïre, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Laccadive Is., Andaman Is., Cambodia, Nicobar Is.
Kew's description“shrub” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker25.51, 86.11 · in the densest population, 141 records (25% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 555 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 446 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 374 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 8 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 555 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Solanum melongenaSolanum melongenaSolanum melongenaSolanum melongenaSolanum melongenaSolanum melongenaSolanum melongenaSolanum melongena

Photographs: (c) Cheng-Tao Lin, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Manidip Mandal, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) 胡正恆(Jackson Hu), some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Karim Haddad, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) chiuluan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

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

Bacterial wilt disease and the Ralstonia solanacearum species complex
Caitilyn Allen, Philippe Prior, Alice Hayward (2005) · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)
Acclimation of Photosynthesis to Elevated CO2 in Five C3 Species
Rowan F. Sage, Thomas D. Sharkey, Jeffrey R. Seemann (1989) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Biosynthesis of Jasmonic Acid by Several Plant Species
Brady A. Vick, Don C. Zimmerman (1984) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
The effects of organic acids, phytates and polyphenols on the absorption of iron from vegetables
M. Gillooly, T. H. Bothwell, J. D. Torrance, A. P. MacPhail (1983) · British Journal Of Nutrition
The SOL Genomics Network. A Comparative Resource for Solanaceae Biology and Beyond
Lukas A. Mueller, Teri H. Solow, Nicolas L. Taylor, Beth Skwarecki (2005) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Foliar Application of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Promotes Drought Stress Tolerance in Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.)
Wael M. Semida, Abdelsattar Abdelkhalik, Gamal F. Mohamed, Taia A. Abd El–Mageed (2021) · Plants
Draft Genome Sequence of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.): the Representative Solanum Species Indigenous to the Old World
Hideki Hirakawa, Kenta Shirasawa, Koji Miyatake, Tsukasa Nunome (2014) · DNA Research
Alpha-Tocopherol Content in 62 Edible Tropical Plants
Ling Soon Ching, Suhaila Mohamed (2001) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Phytohormone-based activity mapping of insect herbivore-produced elicitors
Eric A. Schmelz, Jürgen Engelberth, Hans T. Alborn, James H. Tumlinson (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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 Solanum 13 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 118 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.