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Leucas aspera; photograph (c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2025-12-11

Leucas aspera (Willd.) Link

Common leucas; Common thumba; Wild ocinum

Lamiaceae · Mauritius, Hainan +20

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Leucas aspera, photograph (c) Siya ul haque, some rights reserved (CC BY)Leucas aspera, photograph (c) Siya ul haque, some rights reserved (CC BY)Leucas aspera, photograph (c) Harshjeet Singh Bal, some rights reserved (CC BY)Leucas aspera, photograph (c) Harshjeet Singh Bal, some rights reserved (CC BY)Leucas aspera, photograph (c) Harshjeet Singh Bal, some rights reserved (CC BY)Leucas aspera, photograph (c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY) 58 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
14.2°C
Record low 11.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
33°C
Mar and Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,338mm
8 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–42DLI
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 October, 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

Leucas aspera is a plant species within the genus Leucas and the family Lamiaceae. Although the species has many different common names depending on the region in which it is located, it is most commonly known as Thumbai or Thumba. Found throughout India, it is known for its various uses in the fields of medicine and agriculture.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Leucas aspera", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (999 mm of 1,327 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.9 °C against a yearly mean of 26.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Rain

1,327 mm in the median year at the habitat, 999 mm of it June to October. Wettest month July at 264 mm, driest month January at 12 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 812 mm to 3,187 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,338 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,327 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 42 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 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 14.2 °C, the absolute minimum 11.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 42.5 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 17.0 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 11.8 °C to 23.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 33.0 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.2 °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: 55 to 67% 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 +65 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 Leucas aspera through the yearWarmest months March and April, mean daily high 33 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 17.0 °C; 1,327 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.10°20°30°40°50°42.5° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER11.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 27–42RH 55–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 331 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 / 23–3130 / 25–3333 / 29–3533 / 29–3732 / 29–3830 / 27–3630 / 25–3429 / 25–3430 / 27–3329 / 27–3228 / 26–3027 / 24–30
Night °C17 / 12–2319 / 14–2421 / 17–2524 / 20–2625 / 21–2725 / 20–2724 / 20–2624 / 20–2624 / 19–2522 / 19–2520 / 16–2418 / 13–23
Rain mm12 / 2–2914 / 1–3521 / 3–7652 / 6–17698 / 23–285147 / 48–720264 / 65–710221 / 77–493184 / 101–336183 / 52–350107 / 12–24024 / 5–107
DLI33 / 27–3739 / 32–4142 / 36–4442 / 36–4640 / 31–4531 / 25–3727 / 24–3428 / 24–3532 / 26–3731 / 28–3530 / 26–3230 / 26–34
RH %57 / 49–6156 / 46–6155 / 45–6258 / 45–6460 / 51–6764 / 53–7266 / 55–7267 / 56–7165 / 58–7063 / 55–6863 / 50–6659 / 49–64
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 331 grid cells holding the 389 in-range records, 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 1541:5183 (12.925, 79.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 42.5 °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 331 distinct grid cells holding 389 of the 389 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1541:5183 (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 13.00_79.375, lapse-corrected +65 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 288 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.
NativeMauritius, Hainan, China Southeast, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Philippines, Sulawesi, New Guinea · introduced: Eritrea · 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 marker10.275, 76.402 · in the densest population, 250 records (53% of those in range)
Kew's description“annual” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 473 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 389 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 269 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 49 km away. 19 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 84 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 2° block of the 473 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Leucas aspera, photograph 1did not loadLeucas aspera, photograph 2did not loadLeucas aspera, photograph 3did not loadLeucas aspera, photograph 4did not loadLeucas aspera, photograph 5did not loadLeucas aspera, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Siya ul haque, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Harshjeet Singh Bal, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Ziziphus oenopolia Ziziphus oenopolia Jackal jujube Photo: CC0, author not statedPongamia pinnata Pongamia pinnata Indian beech tree Photo: CC BY, Ramnarayan KAlbizia lebbeck Albizia lebbeck Woman's tongue Photo: CC BY, 五色鳥Streblus asper Streblus asper Siamese rough bush Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaOuret lanata Ouret lanata Aerva Photo: CC BY, white_cheeked_barbetFicus religiosa Ficus religiosa Peepul tree Photo: CC BY, P Jeganathan

Other Leucas 3 in the reference

Leucas chinensis Leucas chinensis Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, 黃美滿Leucas lavandulifolia Leucas lavandulifolia Lavender-leaved leucas Photo: CC BY-SA, Brendan SmithLeucas martinicensis Leucas martinicensis Whitewort Photo: CC BY, Bruno - Yolande Zanette

Names & registers

Also known as Leucas dimidiata; Leucas minahassae; Leucas obliqua; Leucas plukenetii; Phlomis aspera and 4 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
(Willd.) Link
Native to
Mauritius, Hainan, China Southeast +19
Wild records
473 in range · 269 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 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
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; 4 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 3 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 13.00_79.375, lapse-corrected +65 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 2026-10-22
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 36 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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