Tagetes minuta L.
Aztec marigold, Kahki Weed, Khaki Weed, Khaki Weed (EN)
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
Tagetes minuta is a tall upright marigold type of plant from the genus Tagetes, with small flowers, native to the south western half of South America. Since Spanish colonization, it has been introduced around the world, and has become naturalized in Europe, Asia, Australasia, North America, and Africa. Tagetes minuta has numerous local names that vary by region. In the Andes it is known as Huacatay or Wacatay, and in other regions it is common as chinchilla, chiquilla, chilca, zuico, suico, or anisillo. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Tagetes minuta”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Tagetes
Tagetes is a genus of 50 species of annual or perennial, mostly herbaceous plants in the family Asteraceae. They are among several groups of plants known in English as marigolds. The genus Tagetes was formally named by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Tagetes”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Tagetes bonariensis Pers.; Tagetes glandulifera Schrank; Tagetes glandulosa Schrank; Tagetes glandulosa Schrank ex Link; Tagetes montana DC. and 2 more.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, southern).
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 (794 mm of 1125 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.4 °C against a yearly mean of 17.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.
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 1125 mm a year, wettest January at 145 mm, driest August at 33 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1125 mm a year at the habitat, 794 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 145 mm, driest August at 33 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 627 mm to 1840 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: 18 to 43 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 43 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 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 49).
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 0.5 °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 0.5 °C, the absolute minimum -3.4 °C, about 2 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 8.3 °C in July (across the envelope cells 3.0 °C to 14.9 °C), warmest day 27.8 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.5 °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: 57 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
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 28 / 24–32 | 27 / 24–31 | 26 / 22–30 | 23 / 19–28 | 20 / 15–26 | 18 / 13–25 | 17 / 12–24 | 19 / 14–26 | 21 / 16–28 | 23 / 19–30 | 26 / 22–30 | 27 / 24–31 |
| Night °C | 19 / 15–23 | 19 / 15–22 | 18 / 13–22 | 15 / 10–20 | 12 / 7–17 | 9 / 4–16 | 8 / 3–15 | 10 / 4–16 | 11 / 6–18 | 14 / 9–19 | 16 / 12–21 | 18 / 14–22 |
| Rain mm | 145 / 71–247 | 138 / 73–215 | 132 / 88–191 | 98 / 44–172 | 63 / 19–145 | 46 / 6–131 | 34 / 9–142 | 33 / 10–109 | 57 / 14–155 | 112 / 23–181 | 124 / 32–196 | 143 / 63–241 |
| DLI | 42 / 36–48 | 39 / 34–42 | 32 / 30–37 | 25 / 23–32 | 20 / 17–28 | 18 / 14–26 | 20 / 16–27 | 26 / 21–32 | 31 / 26–37 | 37 / 33–42 | 41 / 36–45 | 43 / 36–49 |
| RH % | 60 / 54–67 | 61 / 56–66 | 61 / 58–67 | 61 / 58–67 | 61 / 57–66 | 62 / 56–65 | 60 / 54–65 | 58 / 51–64 | 57 / 50–64 | 57 / 52–65 | 58 / 53–65 | 59 / 53–66 |
Each figure is the median across the 146 grid cells holding the 152 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 2432:2387 (-31.625, -60.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.7 °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 146 distinct grid cells holding the 152 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2432:2387 (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_-60.625, lapse-corrected -10 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 14 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Adrienne van den Beemt, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Guillermo Debandi, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Eduardo Luis Beltrocco, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Matthew Fainman, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Donna Belder, 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 Tagetes minuta, 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.
Tipuana tipu Pride of Bolivia
Cucurbita maxima Atlantic giant pumpkin
Solanum pseudocapsicum False Jerusalem Cherry
Schinus molle American pepper
Alstroemeria psittacina Inca Lily
Phytolacca dioica Belhambra TreeeOther Tagetes 4 in the reference
Tagetes erecta African Marigold
Tagetes lemmonii Lemmon's marigold
Tagetes lucida Mexican mint marigold
Tagetes lunulata Red-crescent marigold 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 answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.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 answeredopenalex 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 135 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.