Species
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Asystasia intrusa (Forssk.) Blume

African Coromandel

Climate known 52 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

Asystasia intrusa, also known as African coromandel, is a species of flowering plant in the family Acanthaceae, first described in 1775 by Forsskal. It is a scrambling annual or subshrub that grows mainly in seasonally dry tropical regions. The species is native to large parts of Tropical and Southern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Madagascar, and nearby islands. It has also been introduced to parts of Asia and the Americas, including China, Taiwan, Costa Rica, and Venezuela.

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

About the genus · Asystasia

The genus Asystasia, assigned to the family Acanthaceae, comprises 59 species found in the tropics of Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Guinea. It includes the weedy species Asystasia gangetica.

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

Family
Acanthaceae
Described by
(Forssk.) Blume
Native to
Benin, Burkina, Gambia, The +47
Wild records
582 in range· 145 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Feb, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1022mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jan 126 mm (CHELSA)
Light
23–38DLI
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, April to October in the northern hemisphere (October to April at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 1022 mm a year, wettest January at 126 mm, driest July at 37 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 23 to 38 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 15.6 °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 Asystasia acuminata Klotzsch; Asystasia ansellioides var. lanceolata Fiori; Asystasia bojeriana Nees; Asystasia capensis Nees; Asystasia chelonoides var. arabica Nees and 25 more.

Cultivation

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 (766 mm of 1022 mm) falls in October to April, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.0 °C against a yearly mean of 21.7 °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 1022 mm a year, wettest January at 126 mm, driest July at 37 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1022 mm a year at the habitat, 766 mm of it October to April. Wettest month January at 126 mm, driest July at 37 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 667 mm to 1831 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: 23 to 38 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 23 to 38 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 17, 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 15.6 °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 15.6 °C, the absolute minimum 13.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 15.3 °C in July (across the envelope cells 9.4 °C to 22.1 °C), warmest day 27.1 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.6 °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: 58 to 64% 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 Jul to 27 °C in Feb; mean night from 15 °C in Jul to 21 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1022 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 367 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 13.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°31.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)13.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 23–38RH 58–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 367 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 °C27 / 23–3127 / 24–3127 / 23–3125 / 21–3024 / 20–2923 / 18–2922 / 18–2823 / 18–2824 / 19–2925 / 20–2925 / 21–2926 / 23–30
Night °C21 / 16–2421 / 16–2421 / 16–2419 / 14–2417 / 13–2316 / 10–2315 / 9–2216 / 10–2217 / 12–2218 / 13–2319 / 15–2320 / 16–24
Rain mm126 / 24–187115 / 28–185110 / 48–20183 / 42–21263 / 17–20839 / 7–16637 / 3–16847 / 7–17070 / 16–195101 / 40–209118 / 53–197113 / 30–202
DLI38 / 33–4637 / 34–4334 / 31–3830 / 26–3627 / 20–3423 / 17–3324 / 19–3327 / 23–3631 / 29–3934 / 30–4236 / 31–4538 / 31–47
RH %63 / 56–6763 / 56–6764 / 58–6763 / 58–6961 / 56–6959 / 53–6758 / 52–6760 / 51–6761 / 53–6962 / 55–6963 / 57–6963 / 57–68

Each figure is the median across the 367 grid cells holding the 573 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 1765:4206 (1.725, 30.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 13.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.7 °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 367 distinct grid cells holding the 573 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1765:4206 (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 1.50_30.625, lapse-corrected +556 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1452 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.
NativeBenin, Burkina, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Comoros, Madagascar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen· introduced: Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Gulf States, Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, South China Sea, Malaya, Alabama, Costa Rica, Venezuela
Kew's description“scrambling annual or subshrub” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-29.822, 30.932 · in the densest population, 218 records (37% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 582 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 145 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 152 km away. 1205 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 9 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 of the 582 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Asystasia intrusaAsystasia intrusaAsystasia intrusaAsystasia intrusaAsystasia intrusaAsystasia intrusaAsystasia intrusaAsystasia intrusa

Photographs: (c) Greg III Espera, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Thibaud Aronson, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) James K. Douch, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Emily Turteltaub Nelson, 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 Asystasia intrusa, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Naturally Occurring Iridoids. A Review, Part 1
Biswanath Dinda, Sudhan Debnath, Yoshihiro Harigaya (2007) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Pollination Services of Mango Flower Pollinators
A. Nurul Huda, M. R. Che Salmah, Ahmad Abu Hassan, Ahmad Hamdan (2015) · Journal of Insect Science
Influence of the obligate parasite Cuscuta campestris on growth and biomass allocation of its host Mikania micrantha
Hao Shen, Wanhui Ye, Hong Lan, Honglin Cao (2005) · Journal of Experimental Botany
Screening of common tropical grass and legume forages in Ethiopia for their nutrient composition and methane production profile in vitro
Aberra Melesse, H. Steingaß, Margit Schollenberger, M. Rodehutscord (2017) · Tropical Grasslands - Forrajes Tropicales
Predatory pollinator deception: Does the orchid mantis resemble a model species?
James C. O’Hanlon, Gregory I. Holwell, Marie E. Herberstein (2014) · Current Zoology
Cattle-oil palm integration – a viable strategy to increase Malaysian beef self-sufficiency and palm oil sustainability
Natascha A. Grinnell, A. van der Linden, Badrul Azhar, Frisco Nobilly (2022) · Livestock Science
Intake, digestibility and nitrogen utilization of three tropical tree legumes
R.C. Merkel, Kevin R. Pond, J. C. Burns, D. S. Fisher (1999) · Animal Feed Science and Technology
Management of mixed weeds in young oil-palm plantation with selected broad-spectrum herbicides
Rosli Mohamad, Wahyu Wibawa, Mohd Ghazali Mohayidin, Adam Puteh (2010) · Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository (Universiti Putra Malaysia)
The Major Arthropod Pests and Weeds of Agriculture in Southeast Asia: Distribution, Importance and Origin
Doug F. Waterhouse, Waterhouse, Doug F. (1993) · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA)
Competitive Interaction of Axonopus compressus and Asystasia gangetica under Contrasting Sunlight Intensity
B Samedani, Abdul Shukor Juraimi, Md. Parvez Anwar, Mohd Y. Rafii (2013) · The Scientific World JOURNAL

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 Asystasia 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (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 answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried 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 2026-09-20; 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 27 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.