Species
+

Coleus amboinicus Lour.

Country Borage, Cuban oregano, Cuban-oregano, French Thyme

Climate known 54 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

Coleus amboinicus is a species of semi-succulent perennial plant in the family Lamiaceae. It has a pungent oregano-like flavor and odor. Coleus amboinicus is considered to be native to parts of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and India, although it is widely cultivated and naturalized elsewhere in the tropics where it is used as a spice and ornamental plant. Common names in English include Indian borage, country borage, French thyme, Indian mint, Mexican mint, Cuban oregano, broad leaf thyme, soup mint, Spanish thyme.

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

About the genus · Coleus

Coleus is a genus of annual or perennial herbs or shrubs, sometimes succulent, sometimes with a fleshy or tuberous rootstock, found in the Afro-Eurasia tropics and subtropics.

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

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
Lour.
Native to
Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania +6
Wild records
201 in range· 98 open

At a glance

Warmest month
33°C
Apr, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1265mm/yr
10 wet months · peak Jul 243 mm (CHELSA)
Light
26–41DLI
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 rainy season, June to October in the northern hemisphere, at the year's mean temperature, so called neither winter nor summer. Habitat rain 1265 mm a year, wettest July at 243 mm, driest January at 15 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 14.2 °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 Coleus amboinicus var. amboinicus; Coleus amboinicus var. violaceus Gürke; Coleus aromaticus Benth.; Coleus carnosus Hassk.; Coleus crassifolius Benth. and 9 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a rainy season, June to October in the northern hemisphere, at the year's mean temperature, so called neither winter nor summer.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a rainy season with no name: 70% of the year's rain (917 mm of 1265 mm) falls in June to October, whose mean temperature, 25.9 °C, is within half a degree of the year's, 26.1 °C, so it is neither the cooler nor the warmer part of the year. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

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 1265 mm a year, wettest July at 243 mm, driest January at 15 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1265 mm a year at the habitat, 917 mm of it June to October. Wettest month July at 243 mm, driest January at 15 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 748 mm to 3218 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: 26 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 26 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 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

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 14.2 °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 14.2 °C, the absolute minimum 11.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 19.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells 11.9 °C to 23.5 °C), warmest day 32.8 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.2 °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: 57 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 28 °C in Jul to 33 °C in Apr; mean night from 20 °C in Jan to 25 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1265 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 184 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 11.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.9 °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°40°45°36.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)11.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter02004006008001000mm rainDLI 26–41RH 57–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 184 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 °C29 / 24–3230 / 26–3332 / 29–3533 / 28–3732 / 26–3929 / 24–3628 / 24–3328 / 25–3229 / 26–3229 / 26–3228 / 26–3028 / 24–31
Night °C20 / 12–2420 / 14–2422 / 17–2524 / 19–2625 / 19–2824 / 17–2824 / 16–2723 / 16–2623 / 17–2522 / 18–2421 / 16–2420 / 13–24
Rain mm15 / 2–7917 / 2–5927 / 4–9055 / 6–15297 / 19–271124 / 27–732243 / 26–819195 / 28–519176 / 35–325179 / 39–350109 / 11–24828 / 5–130
DLI36 / 30–3839 / 34–4141 / 37–4441 / 32–4638 / 29–4630 / 24–3726 / 23–3328 / 24–3431 / 29–3732 / 29–3530 / 28–3632 / 27–37
RH %57 / 51–6257 / 48–6358 / 46–6461 / 42–6561 / 46–6763 / 53–7265 / 57–7166 / 58–7164 / 58–6964 / 54–6963 / 51–6760 / 50–64

Each figure is the median across the 184 grid cells holding the 199 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 1939:4355 (-6.975, 37.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.9 °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 184 distinct grid cells holding the 199 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1939:4355 (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 -7.00_37.500, lapse-corrected -204 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 369 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.
NativeBurundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Mozambique, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Yemen, India· introduced: Comoros, Madagascar, Seychelles, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Maluku, Philippines, Sumatera, Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Marquesas, Florida, Mexico Northeast, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Brazil Northeast
Kew's description“scrambling subshrub” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker10.127, 76.477 · in the densest population, 58 records (29% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 201 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 98 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 54 km away. 1353 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 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 201 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Coleus amboinicusColeus amboinicusColeus amboinicusColeus amboinicusColeus amboinicusColeus amboinicusColeus amboinicusColeus amboinicus

Photographs: (c) Ricard Busquets Reverte, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Owen VanAntwerpen, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Ashwin A, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Greg III Espera, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Amar Bharathy, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Scott Allen Davis, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons 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 Coleus amboinicus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Phytosynthesis of gold nanoparticles using leaf extract of Coleus amboinicus Lour
Kannan Badri Narayanan, N. Sakthivel (2010) · Materials Characterization
Extracellular synthesis of silver nanoparticles using the leaf extract of Coleus amboinicus Lour.
Kannan Badri Narayanan, N. Sakthivel (2011) · Materials Research Bulletin
Lactagogue effects of Torbangun, a Bataknese traditional cuisine.
Rizal Damanik, Mark L. Wahlqvist, Naiyana Wattanapenpaiboon (2006) · PubMed
Effectiveness of fenugreek as a galactagogue: A network meta‐analysis
Tahir Mehmood Khan, David Bin‐Chia Wu, Anton V. Dolzhenko (2017) · Phytotherapy Research
Ultrasonically driven green synthesis of palladium nanoparticles by Coleus amboinicus for catalytic reduction and Suzuki-Miyaura reaction
Chinna Bathula, K.Subalakshmi K.Subalakshmi, Ashok Kumar K, Hemraj M. Yadav (2020) · Colloids and Surfaces B Biointerfaces
Studies on essential oils, Part 33: chemical and insecticidal investigations on leaf oil of Coleus amboinicus Lour.
Gurdip Singh, O. P. Singh, Yerranaagu Prasad, Marina P. de Lampasona (2002) · Flavour and Fragrance Journal
Review on Some Malaysian Traditional Medicinal Plants with Therapeutic Properties
Ali Alsarhan, Ahed J Alkhatib, Naznin Sultana, Mohammed Rafiq Abdul Kadir (2014) · Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences
Studies on the antidandruff activity of the essential oil of coleus amboinicus and eucalyptus globulus
P. Selvakumar, Balakrishnan Naveena, S.D. prakash (2012) · Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease
Medicinal Leaf Dataset
S. Roopashree (2020) · Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS)
Country Borage (Coleus amboinicusLour.):
Julia F. Morton (1992) · Journal of Herbs Spices & Medicinal Plants
Phytochemical Profile and Antioxidant Activities of Coleus amboinicus Lour. Cultivated in Indonesia and Poland
Sylwester Ślusarczyk, Adam Cieślak, Yulianri Rizki Yanza, M. Szumacher‐Strabel (2021) · Molecules

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 Coleus 5 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 not askedcarried 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 129 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.