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Strobilanthes crispa; photograph Franz Anthony, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYFranz Anthony, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Strobilanthes crispa (L.) Blume

Acanthaceae · Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is.

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Strobilanthes crispa, photograph Franz Anthony, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFStrobilanthes crispa, photograph Franz Anthony, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFStrobilanthes crispa, photograph Franz Anthony, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFStrobilanthes crispa, photograph Franz Anthony, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFStrobilanthes crispa, photograph Stefan C, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIFStrobilanthes crispa, photograph 阿橋 HQ, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons 8 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
15.8°C
Record low 12.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct and Nov at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,010mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–36DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, November to April (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 3 records in 3 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Strobilanthes crispa is a shrub which originated from Madagascar, and is now found across south east Asia. It is a member of the family Acanthaceae. It is known as pokok pecah kaca or pokok pecah beling in Malaysia, and pecah beling, enyoh kilo, kecibeling or kejibeling in Indonesia. The leaves are used traditionally for treatment of cancer and diabetes, usually taken as a tea or infusion of the leaves.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Strobilanthes crispa", 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 sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,229 mm of 3,045 mm) falls in November to April. The temperature curve is flat, 2.0 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

3,045 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,229 mm of it November to April. Wettest month February at 472 mm, driest month August at 64 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,881 mm to 3,108 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,010 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 3,045 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 15.8 °C, the absolute minimum 12.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.9 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 17.1 °C in August (across the grid cells of the range 14.8 °C to 17.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.1 °C in April, May and October (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.8 °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: 69 to 76% 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 +289 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

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 3 records in 3 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Strobilanthes crispa through the yearWarmest months February, March, April, May, June, September, October and November, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month August, mean nightly low 17.1 °C; 3,045 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, southern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°34.9° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER12.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 25–36RH 69–76%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 3 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 °C25 / 24–2626 / 24–2626 / 24–2626 / 24–2726 / 24–2726 / 24–2625 / 24–2625 / 24–2626 / 25–2726 / 25–2726 / 24–2625 / 24–26
Night °C19 / 17–2019 / 17–2019 / 17–2019 / 17–2019 / 17–1918 / 16–1817 / 15–1817 / 15–1718 / 16–1919 / 17–2020 / 17–2019 / 17–20
Rain mm450 / 400–460472 / 386–485336 / 321–343291 / 281–300195 / 193–201154 / 148–16084 / 78–8564 / 61–67114 / 112–126205 / 195–211329 / 328–334351 / 345–356
DLI25 / 25–2625 / 25–2728 / 27–2929 / 28–3031 / 29–3129 / 28–3030 / 29–3233 / 32–3436 / 35–3634 / 34–3429 / 28–2926 / 25–27
RH %76 / 74–7774 / 74–7673 / 72–7572 / 71–7470 / 69–7270 / 69–7269 / 68–7169 / 68–7171 / 69–7373 / 72–7576 / 75–7876 / 74–78
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 3 grid cells holding the 3 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 1952:5808 (-7.625, 110.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 12.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.9 °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 3 distinct grid cells holding 3 of the 3 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1952:5808 (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 -7.50_110.625, lapse-corrected +289 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 645 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.
NativeJawa, Lesser Sunda 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 marker-7.606, 110.295 · in the densest population, 5 records (63% of those in range)
Kew's description“wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 8 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 3 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 5 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2 km away. 40 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the map and the climate. 5 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 of the 8 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Strobilanthes crispa, photograph 1did not loadStrobilanthes crispa, photograph 2did not loadStrobilanthes crispa, photograph 3did not loadStrobilanthes crispa, photograph 4did not loadStrobilanthes crispa, photograph 5did not loadStrobilanthes crispa, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Franz Anthony, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (4); Stefan C, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF; 阿橋 HQ, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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

Vanda tricolor Vanda tricolor Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Tara Severns Aeschynanthus albidus Gesneriaceae Gigantochloa verticillata Gigantochloa verticillata Bamboo cane Photo: CC BY, Ganjar CahyadiMacodes petola Macodes petola Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Fathurrahman SidiqAdiantum anceps Adiantum anceps Double edge maidenhair Photo: CC0, author not statedGoeppertia pseudoveitchiana Goeppertia pseudoveitchiana Marantaceae Photo: CC BY, Lucas Illanes

Other Strobilanthes 32 in the reference

Strobilanthes alternata Strobilanthes alternata Red ivy Photo: CC BY, kumarkvStrobilanthes anisophylla Strobilanthes anisophylla Goldfussia Photo: CC BY, Todd HuangStrobilanthes atropurpurea Strobilanthes atropurpurea Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, Ramnarayan KStrobilanthes attenuata Strobilanthes attenuata Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Dinesh ValkeStrobilanthes auriculata Strobilanthes auriculata Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, Ricci MaseroStrobilanthes callosa Strobilanthes callosa Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Dinesh ValkeStrobilanthes cusia Strobilanthes cusia Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好Strobilanthes cystolithigera Strobilanthes cystolithigera Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz Strobilanthes dimorphotricha Acanthaceae Strobilanthes flexicaulis Strobilanthes flexicaulis Acanthaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedStrobilanthes formosana Strobilanthes formosana Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好 Strobilanthes glaucescens Acanthaceae all 33 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Hemigraphis crispa; Ruellia crispa; Sericocalyx crispus. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Acanthaceae
Described by
(L.) Blume
Native to
Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is.
Wild records
8 in range · 5 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; 7 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (5 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 1 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 -7.50_110.625, lapse-corrected +289 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 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
Wikimedia Commons commons 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 3 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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