Species
+

Thunbergia erecta (Benth.) T.Anderson

Angelina, Boca de vieja, Bush Clockvine, Bush Thunbergia

Climate known 39 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

Thunbergia erecta is a herbaceous, perennial, climbing plant species in the genus Thunbergia native to western Africa. Common names include bush clockvine, king's-mantle and potato bush.

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

About the genus · Thunbergia

Thunbergia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. It includes 150 species native to tropical and subtropical regions of sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, southern Asia, New Guinea, and Australia. Thunbergia species are vigorous annual or perennial vines and shrubs growing to 2–8 m tall. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Thunbergia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Acanthaceae
Described by
(Benth.) T.Anderson
Native to
Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea +14
Wild records
164 in range· 110 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Feb, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1497mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 200 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–36DLI
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 sharp rainy season, March to June and August to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.8 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1497 mm a year, wettest October at 200 mm, driest January at 38 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 19.3 °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 Meyenia erecta Benth.; Thunbergia ikbaliana De Wild.; Thunbergia ikbaliana DeWild.; Thunbergia mestdaghi De Wild.; Thunbergia mestdaghi DeWild.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, March to June and August to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.8 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

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

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1105 mm of 1497 mm) falls in March to June and August to October. The temperature curve is flat, 1.8 °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, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

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 1497 mm a year, wettest October at 200 mm, driest January at 38 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1497 mm a year at the habitat, 1105 mm of it March to June and August to October. Wettest month October at 200 mm, driest January at 38 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 847 mm to 2966 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: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 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 42).

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 19.3 °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 19.3 °C, the absolute minimum 16.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.3 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 21.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells 15.1 °C to 24.6 °C), warmest day 30.0 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.3 °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: 62 to 68% 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 27 °C in Jul to 30 °C in Feb; mean night from 21 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Apr. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1497 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 146 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 16.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.3 °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°35.3° 99th-percentile day (undated)16.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 28–36RH 62–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 146 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 / 26–3330 / 26–3330 / 26–3329 / 25–3128 / 24–3028 / 24–2927 / 23–2927 / 24–2928 / 25–2928 / 26–2928 / 25–3029 / 26–31
Night °C21 / 15–2522 / 16–2522 / 16–2522 / 16–2522 / 16–2522 / 14–2421 / 14–2421 / 14–2421 / 15–2421 / 15–2422 / 16–2521 / 15–25
Rain mm38 / 5–15853 / 5–161125 / 18–219165 / 60–283180 / 48–299132 / 12–384111 / 11–364122 / 12–383181 / 21–406200 / 35–367118 / 18–27572 / 5–187
DLI35 / 30–4036 / 32–4235 / 32–4233 / 30–4031 / 27–3629 / 24–3428 / 23–3429 / 23–3430 / 25–3831 / 26–3932 / 28–3833 / 28–38
RH %62 / 51–6862 / 53–6865 / 56–6967 / 60–7068 / 60–7267 / 58–7267 / 57–7367 / 57–7268 / 57–7368 / 58–7267 / 58–7165 / 55–69

Each figure is the median across the 146 grid cells holding the 159 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 1818:3807 (-0.925, 10.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 16.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.3 °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 146 distinct grid cells holding the 159 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1818:3807 (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 -1.00_10.625, lapse-corrected -130 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 90 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.
NativeGhana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Rwanda, Zaïre, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda· introduced: Chad, Comoros, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Nicobar Is., Fiji, Vanuatu, Society Is., Marianas, Florida, Mexico Central, Mexico Southeast, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Venezuela
Kew's description“shrub” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker0.717, 10.367 · in the densest population, 51 records (31% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 164 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 110 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 255 km away. 1494 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 5 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 inside the densest 4° block of the 164 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Thunbergia erectaThunbergia erectaThunbergia erectaThunbergia erectaThunbergia erectaThunbergia erectaThunbergia erectaThunbergia erecta

Photographs: (c) Ethan, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0 (6); (c) Paulmathi Vinod, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist 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 Thunbergia erecta, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Responses of Mediterranean ornamental shrubs to drought stress and recovery
Stefania Toscano, D. Scuderi, F. Giuffrida, Daniela Romano (2014) · Scientia Horticulturae
Bioactive constituents from Thunbergia erecta as potential anticholinesterase and anti-ageing agents: Experimental and in silico studies
Mohamed S. Refaey, Reda A. Abdelhamid, Hanan Elimam, Yaseen A. M. M. Elshaier (2021) · Bioorganic Chemistry
Glyphosate Dose Affected Control of Field Dodder (Cuscuta campestris) in the Tropics
Shawn M. Hock, Greg Wiecko, Stevan Z. Knežević (2008) · Weed Technology
Chromosome Numbers in Some Species of Acanthaceae
T. S. Sareen, K. Sanjogta (1976) · CYTOLOGIA
Effects of low temperature stress on physiological-biochemical indexes and photosynthetic characteristics of seedlings of four plant species
邵怡若 SHAO Yiruo, 许建新 XU Jianxin, 薛立 Xue Li, 张柔 ZHANG Rou (2013) · Acta Ecologica Sinica
Evaluation of Hypoglycemic effect of extracts from Derris scandens and Thunbergia erecta leaves in Swiss albino mice
Mahbubur Rahman Bhuiyan, Ummey Jannatun Nahar, Anawara Begum (2019) · Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology
Thunbergia erectaL. FLOWER AS AN ALTERNATIVE ACIDBASE NATURAL INDICATORS
Tukiran Tukiran, Andika Pramudya Wardana (2018) · RASAYAN Journal of Chemistry
A 16SrXIII-E subgroup phytoplasma is associated with Thunbergia erecta yellow leaf in Brazil
Murilo Siqueira Alves, Adriana Neves de Souza, G.M. Ribeiro, André da Silva Xavier (2016) · Australasian Plant Disease Notes

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 Thunbergia 5 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (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 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried 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 2026-09-19; 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 85 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.