Strobilanthes callosa Nees
Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Strobilanthes callosa Nees: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Wall. ex Nees.
68 photographs › At a glance
- Jan, under 5 mm of rain
- Feb, under 5 mm of rain
- Mar, under 5 mm of rain
- Apr
- May
- Jun, shaded
- Jul, shaded
- Aug, shaded
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Summary
Strobilanthes callosa (Synonym: Carvia callosa (Nees) Bremek) is a shrub found mainly in the low lying hills of the Western Ghats, all along the west coast of India. Its standardized Hindi name is maruadona (मरुआदोना) which it is called in the state of Madhya Pradesh where it is also found. In the state of Maharashtra, in the Marathi language, and other local dialects and in the neighboring state of Karnataka, the shrub is locally known as karvi (कारवी), sometimes spelled in English as karvy.
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Strobilanthes callosa", CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the genus · Strobilanthes
Strobilanthes is a genus of about 350 species of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, mostly native to tropical Asia and Madagascar, but with a few species extending north into temperate regions of Asia. Many species are cultivated for their two-lipped, hooded flowers in shades of blue, pink, white and purple. Most are frost-tender and require protection in frost-prone areas. More on Wikipedia ›
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Strobilanthes", CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cultivation
Seasons
The rain rule reads a rainy season with no name: 70% of the median year's rain (2,146 mm of 2,753 mm) falls in June to August, whose mean temperature, 24.4 °C, is within half a degree of the year's, 24.4 °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 February.
Rain
2,753 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,146 mm of it June to August. Wettest month July at 989 mm, driest month February at 1 mm; 3 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,331 mm to 4,326 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,762 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,753 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: 21 to 46 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 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).
Warmth and air
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 10.5 °C, the absolute minimum 6.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 43.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 15.4 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 12.6 °C to 18.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 33.9 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 10.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).
Relative humidity at the habitat: 47 to 77% 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 +16 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
Mean daily high from 26 °C in Jul and Aug to 34 °C in Apr; mean nightly low from 15 °C in Jan to 23 °C in May and Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low. 2,753 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added), the wettest month Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 77 habitat cells. Over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER) the absolute minimum was 6.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 43.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.
Figures by month
| Figure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 28 / 26–31 | 30 / 28–32 | 33 / 31–34 | 34 / 32–37 | 33 / 31–36 | 29 / 26–32 | 26 / 23–28 | 26 / 23–28 | 27 / 25–29 | 29 / 27–32 | 29 / 27–32 | 28 / 26–31 |
| Night °C | 15 / 13–19 | 16 / 14–19 | 19 / 16–21 | 21 / 19–24 | 23 / 20–26 | 23 / 20–26 | 22 / 20–25 | 21 / 19–25 | 21 / 19–24 | 20 / 18–24 | 18 / 15–22 | 16 / 13–19 |
| Rain mm | 2 / 1–3 | 1 / 1–2 | 3 / 1–8 | 7 / 1–27 | 36 / 13–109 | 499 / 202–913 | 989 / 446–1557 | 658 / 368–1024 | 389 / 207–479 | 132 / 71–216 | 30 / 13–49 | 7 / 2–10 |
| DLI | 34 / 32–36 | 39 / 37–40 | 43 / 43–44 | 46 / 44–47 | 44 / 40–46 | 28 / 24–33 | 21 / 18–24 | 21 / 18–23 | 27 / 26–29 | 33 / 31–34 | 33 / 31–33 | 32 / 30–33 |
| RH % | 49 / 46–52 | 47 / 43–53 | 47 / 41–56 | 51 / 44–61 | 60 / 55–64 | 71 / 63–78 | 77 / 70–85 | 77 / 71–83 | 72 / 67–76 | 58 / 52–63 | 52 / 47–54 | 49 / 47–51 |
How this section is made
Natural habitat
How this section is made
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Dinesh Valke, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (4); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (2).
Related
Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.
Ceropegia oculata Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY, Ramesh Shenai
Aerides maculosa Fox brush orchid Photo: CC BY, Aadi Kulkarni
Erinocarpus nimmonii Nimmo's Erinocarpus Photo: CC BY, Ramesh Shenai
Begonia crenata Begoniaceae Photo: CC BY, chiragmunje
Bridelia retusa Phyllanthaceae Photo: CC BY, Bharat Godambe
Cryptolepis buchananii Indian Sarsaparilla Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaOther Strobilanthes 32 in the reference
Strobilanthes alternata Red ivy Photo: CC BY, kumarkv
Strobilanthes anisophylla Goldfussia Photo: CC BY, Todd Huang
Strobilanthes atropurpurea Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, Ramnarayan K
Strobilanthes attenuata Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Dinesh Valke
Strobilanthes auriculata Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, Ricci Masero
Strobilanthes crispa Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, Franz Anthony
Strobilanthes cusia Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好
Strobilanthes cystolithigera Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz Strobilanthes dimorphotricha Acanthaceae 
Strobilanthes flexicaulis Acanthaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated
Strobilanthes formosana Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好 Strobilanthes glaucescens Acanthaceae all 33 ›Names & registers
Also known as Carvia callosa; Carvia callosa var. hispida; Ruellia callosa; Strobilanthes callosa var. hispida; Strobilanthes grahamiana. (GBIF Backbone)
The record
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 answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 3781786 is Strobilanthes callosa Wall. ex Nees; the page links Kew's Strobilanthes callosa Nees, and the name is cited as Kew cites itgbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21climate answeredasked 2026-10-22climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 21.50_73.750, lapse-corrected +16 m at 6.5 °C/kmwikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22inat.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 2026-10-22inat.photos.cultivated not askedgbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshotEvery 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 7 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.