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Barleria prionitis; photograph (c) Raja Sekhar Chimirala, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Raja Sekhar Chimirala, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-08

Barleria prionitis L.

Porcupine flower; Barleria

Acanthaceae · Eritrea, Ethiopia +22

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Barleria prionitis, photograph (c) Raja Sekhar Chimirala, some rights reserved (CC BY)Barleria prionitis, photograph (c) smathichong, some rights reserved (CC BY)Barleria prionitis, photograph (c) smathichong, some rights reserved (CC BY)Barleria prionitis, photograph (c) smathichong, some rights reserved (CC BY)Barleria prionitis, photograph (c) nirjesh gautam, some rights reserved (CC BY)Barleria prionitis, photograph (c) nirjesh gautam, some rights reserved (CC BY) 60 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
11.8°C
Record low 7.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
35°C
Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,157mm
6 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–44DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Barleria prionitis is a shrub in the family Acanthaceae, native to Island and Mainland Southeast Asia, China, the Indian Subcontinent, the Arabian Peninsula and northeastern Africa. It is widely spread as an ornamental and weed, occurring in naturalised populations around the world. It used not only as an ornamental but also as a hedge and extensively as a component of folk medicines. As a weed it is regarded as problematic in many areas.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Barleria prionitis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Barleria

Barleria is a genus of plants in the family Acanthaceae. It includes 303 species native to the tropics and subtropics, including the Americas from Mexico to northern South America, sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, southern China and Taiwan, parts of Malesia, and New Guinea.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Barleria", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (738 mm of 939 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.5 °C against a yearly mean of 26.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Rain

939 mm in the median year at the habitat, 738 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 241 mm, driest months (3 at 8 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 672 mm to 2,762 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,157 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 939 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 44 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 11.8 °C, the absolute minimum 7.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 42.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 16.0 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 9.5 °C to 23.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 35.4 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 11.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 49 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: 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 moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. 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.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -45 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Barleria prionitis through the yearWarmest months April and May, mean daily high 35 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 16.0 °C; 939 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°50°42.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER7.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter02004006008001000mm rainDLI 27–44RH 49–65%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 371 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C28 / 23–3029 / 26–3232 / 28–3535 / 29–3835 / 29–4033 / 28–3830 / 27–3329 / 26–3230 / 27–3330 / 28–3429 / 27–3227 / 24–30
Night °C16 / 10–2418 / 12–2421 / 17–2524 / 20–2626 / 22–2826 / 22–2825 / 21–2724 / 21–2624 / 21–2522 / 19–2519 / 15–2416 / 11–24
Rain mm8 / 1–2808 / 1–27714 / 1–19817 / 1–14035 / 8–152118 / 45–480241 / 49–801213 / 36–586166 / 45–35587 / 17–24024 / 7–2228 / 1–242
DLI32 / 28–3637 / 32–4042 / 37–4444 / 37–4743 / 34–4834 / 29–4128 / 23–3427 / 22–3732 / 28–3934 / 30–3931 / 28–3530 / 27–34
RH %53 / 47–6751 / 44–6749 / 41–6752 / 38–6656 / 41–6660 / 49–6964 / 58–7165 / 59–7163 / 58–6959 / 48–6654 / 46–6653 / 47–67
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 371 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (503 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1451:5073 (17.425, 73.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 7.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 11.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 42.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 371 distinct grid cells holding 503 of the 505 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1451:5073 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 17.50_73.750, lapse-corrected -45 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 473 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 the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeEritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China South-Central, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Laccadive Is., Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Philippines, Sulawesi · introduced: Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles, Andaman Is., Nauru, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Windward Is. · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker17.421, 78.422 · in the densest population, 290 records (50% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub or shrub” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 583 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 503 of them in the land cells it reads, of 505 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 302 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 305 km away. 178 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 78 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 583 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Barleria prionitis, photograph 1did not loadBarleria prionitis, photograph 2did not loadBarleria prionitis, photograph 3did not loadBarleria prionitis, photograph 4did not loadBarleria prionitis, photograph 5did not loadBarleria prionitis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Raja Sekhar Chimirala, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) smathichong, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) nirjesh gautam, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Holoptelea integrifolia Holoptelea integrifolia Indian-elm Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaPergularia daemia Pergularia daemia Trellis-vine Photo: CC0, author not statedCymbopogon citratus Cymbopogon citratus Lemon grass Photo: CC BY, Guillaume DelaitreAlangium salviifolium Alangium salviifolium Sage-leaf alangium Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaPhoenix sylvestris Phoenix sylvestris Wild date palm Photo: CC BY, John BrewTinospora cordifolia Tinospora cordifolia Menispermaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, భారతీయ ఆయుర్వేద జీవన విజ్ఞానం

Other Barleria 15 in the reference

Barleria albostellata Barleria albostellata Grey Barleria Photo: CC BY, linkieBarleria cristata Barleria cristata Crested Philippine violet Photo: CC BY, Raúl A. Ruiz M.Barleria delagoensis Barleria delagoensis Acanthaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedBarleria elegans Barleria elegans White Bushveld Barleria Photo: CC0, author not statedBarleria greenii Barleria greenii Wild Bush Petunia Photo: Public domain, Andrew massynBarleria lancifolia Barleria lancifolia Butterfly Barleria Photo: CC0, author not statedBarleria lichtensteiniana Barleria lichtensteiniana Acanthaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedBarleria lupulina Barleria lupulina Hophead Philippine violet Photo: CC BY-SA, Dairon Cuevas RiverasBarleria obtusa Barleria obtusa Blue Bushviolet Photo: CC BY, Presha SoogrimBarleria oenotheroides Barleria oenotheroides Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, Oscar Israel Rodríguez OrtizBarleria repens Barleria repens Coral Creeper Photo: CC BY, nebrooksBarleria rotundifolia Barleria rotundifolia Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Andrew Hankey all 16 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Barleria bispinosa; Barleria prionitis var. madagascariensis. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Acanthaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar +21
Wild records
583 in range · 302 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 9 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (9 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 17.50_73.750, lapse-corrected -45 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 57 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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