Zephyranthes candida Herb.
Autumn Zephyr Lily, Autumn Zephyrlily, Peruvian swamp lily, Autumn zephyr lily, White rain 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.
Summary
Zephyranthes candida, with common names that include autumn zephyrlily, white windflower, white rain lily, and Peruvian swamp lily, is a species of rain lily native to South America including Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil. The species is widely cultivated as an ornamental and reportedly naturalized in many places.
Text from Wikipedia, “Zephyranthes candida”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Zephyranthes
Zephyranthes is a genus of temperate and tropical bulbous plants in the Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae, native to the Americas and widely cultivated as ornamentals. Following the expansion of the genus in 2019, which now includes the genera Habranthus and Sprekelia, there are about 200 recognized species, as well as numerous hybrids and cultivars. Common names for species in this genus include fairy lily, rainflower, zephyr lily, magic lily, Atamasco lily, and rain lily.
Text from Wikipedia, “Zephyranthes”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Amaryllis candida Lindl.; Amaryllis nivea Schult. & Schult.f.; Argyropsis candida (Herb.) M.Roem.; Atamosco candida (Herb.) Sasaki; Atamosco candida (Lindl.) Small and 3 more.
Cultivation
Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by Amaryllidaceae, which is usually but not always 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: a summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (October to April 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 (837 mm of 1161 mm) falls in October to April, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.1 °C against a yearly mean of 17.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to October.
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 1161 mm a year, wettest March at 131 mm, driest July at 54 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1161 mm a year at the habitat, 837 mm of it October to April. Wettest month March at 131 mm, driest July at 54 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1014 mm to 1632 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: 15 to 46 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 46 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 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 -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 -4.3 °C, about 6 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 7.9 °C in July (across the envelope cells 5.8 °C to 12.7 °C), warmest day 29.0 °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, 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.
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 | 29 / 26–31 | 28 / 25–29 | 26 / 24–28 | 22 / 20–26 | 19 / 17–23 | 16 / 14–22 | 16 / 13–22 | 18 / 15–24 | 20 / 16–25 | 23 / 19–26 | 25 / 22–28 | 28 / 25–30 |
| Night °C | 20 / 18–22 | 20 / 18–22 | 18 / 16–21 | 15 / 13–18 | 11 / 10–15 | 9 / 7–13 | 8 / 6–13 | 9 / 7–14 | 10 / 9–15 | 13 / 12–18 | 16 / 14–19 | 18 / 17–21 |
| Rain mm | 123 / 107–245 | 126 / 109–177 | 131 / 118–165 | 107 / 81–163 | 88 / 44–114 | 57 / 20–94 | 54 / 24–82 | 55 / 23–80 | 70 / 54–120 | 118 / 91–146 | 117 / 104–179 | 115 / 96–200 |
| DLI | 46 / 37–47 | 39 / 37–41 | 32 / 31–34 | 24 / 23–29 | 18 / 17–23 | 15 / 14–22 | 17 / 16–23 | 22 / 21–28 | 29 / 28–32 | 36 / 34–37 | 43 / 37–44 | 46 / 37–48 |
| RH % | 57 / 55–64 | 59 / 57–64 | 60 / 58–64 | 60 / 59–63 | 61 / 60–63 | 62 / 60–64 | 61 / 58–63 | 59 / 55–62 | 58 / 55–62 | 58 / 56–62 | 58 / 55–62 | 57 / 55–63 |
Each figure is the median across the 209 grid cells holding the 306 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 2489:2429 (-34.475, -58.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -4.3 °C, 1st-percentile night -0.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.5 °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 209 distinct grid cells holding the 306 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2489:2429 (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 -34.50_-58.750, no lapse correction (POWER gave no cell elevation). Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 17 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Sam Kieschnick, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Romi Galeota Lencina, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Wendy McCrady, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Kevin Andros, 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 Zephyranthes candida, 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.
Passiflora caerulea Blue Passionflower
Lantana montevidensis Purple Trailing Lantana
Senna corymbosa Argentine Senna
Erythrina crista-galli Brazilian Coral Tree
Phytolacca dioica Belhambra Treee
Alstroemeria psittacina Inca LilyOther Zephyranthes 3 in the reference
Zephyranthes carinata Pink Rain Lily
Zephyranthes citrina Citron Zephyrlily
Zephyranthes rosea Cuban Zephyrlily History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (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 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; 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 83 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.