Acanthaceae

Acanthaceae () is a family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are tropical herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epiphytes. Only a few species are distributed in temperate regions. The four main centres of distribution are Indonesia and Malaysia, Africa, Brazil, and Central America. Representatives of the family can be found in nearly every habitat, including dense or open forests, scrublands, wet fields and valleys, sea coast and marine areas, swamps, and mangrove forests.

species of plant

species of plant

species of plant

Fittonia (or nerve plant or mosaic plant) is a genus of evergreen perennial flowering plants in the acanthus ('bear’s britches') family, Acanthaceae. The genus is native to tropical and subtropical forested areas in northern and western South America, mainly Perú.

Crossandra is a genus of plants in the family Acanthaceae, comprising 54 species that occur in Africa, Madagascar, Arabia and the Indian subcontinent. Some species, especially Crossandra infundibuliformis, are cultivated for their brightly colored flowers.

Pachystachys is a genus of 12 species of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, native to rainforest in the Caribbean and Central and South America. They are evergreen perennials and shrubs bearing prominent terminal spikes of flowers with brightly coloured bracts.

Andrographis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. They may be generally known as the false waterwillows, and several are called periyanagai.

species of plant

Acanthoideae is a subfamily of plants in the family Acanthaceae.

thumb|Eranthemum purpurascens MHNT

Dyschoriste is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. It includes 98 species native to the tropics and subtropics of the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, and southern Asia. Members of the genus are commonly known as snakeherb.

Hemigraphis is a genus of plants in the family Acanthaceae, consisting of 34 species native to tropical Asia. Hemigraphis is similar to plants the genus Strobilanthes, with some species now placed there. Its native range is Nansei-shoto and from Indo-China to New Guinea.

Whitfieldia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. It includes 13 species of erect or scrambling shrubs native to tropical Africa. The greatest species diversity is in the Guineo-Congolian rainforests of western and central Africa.

species of plant

species of plant

Gymnostachyum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. It includes 50 species native to tropical Asia, ranging from the Indian subcontinent through Indochina to southern China, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, and the Philippines.

Phaulopsis is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.

Rungia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.

species of plant

Anisacanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the bear's breeches family, Acanthaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek words ἄνισος (ánisos), meaning "unequal," and ἄκανθος (ákanthos), meaning "spine, thorn." Members of the genus are native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. They are commonly known as desert honeysuckles, though this term is shared with the genus Ancistranthus, and is something of a misnomer as true honeysuckles (genus Lonicera) belong to the family Caprifoliaceae. Anisacanthus species are sometimes cultivated for use in xeriscaping.

Acanthopsis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. It includes 20 species native to Namibia and the Cape Provinces of South Africa.

Mimulopsis is a genus in the flowering plant family Acanthaceae with about 20 species native to tropical Africa and Madagascar.

Elytraria, scalystem, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, with a pantropical distribution. They tend to lack stems. Includes 22 species.

species of plant

Dischistocalyx is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.

Anisotes is a genus of Afrotropical plants in the family Acanthaceae. The genus is morphologically similar to Metarungia, from which it differs mainly in the dehiscence of the fruit capsule, and the nature of the placenta. Placentas (with attached retinacula) remain attached to the inner surface of fruit capsules in Anisotes.

Echinacanthus is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.

Ecbolium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. It includes 26 species native to southern and eastern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Indian subcontinent, and Myanmar.

Phlogacanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae and tribe Andrographideae. Its distribution includes India through to Indo-China, southern China, Java, and Sulawesi.

Mackaya is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, disjunctly distributed in South Africa and the eastern Himalayas, Southeast Asia, and China. It is sister to Asystasia.

Carlowrightia is a genus of flowering plants in the bear's breeches family, Acanthaceae. Members of the genus, commonly known as wrightworts, are mainly small shrubs bearing inflorescences of lily-like flowers. They are native to the Americas, ranging from the southwestern United States through Mexico and Central America, and in Ecuador. Many species are native to western North America. The genus was named for the American botanist Charles Wright.

Schaueria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. They are endemic to Brazil, from Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul. They are characterized by small elongated white or yellow flowers and narrow to thread-like green or yellow bracts. They are found mainly in rain forests, semi-deciduous mountain forests, and restingas. They are pollinated by bees and hummingbirds.

species of flowering plant

species of plant

species of plant

Chroesthes is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.

Harpochilus is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae. It includes three species endemic to northeastern Brazil.

Holographis is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae. It includes 18 species native to Mexico.

Chlamydocardia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.

Tetramerium is a genus of plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae. It is found in the Americas, ranging from the southwestern United States to Bolivia, especially in tropical dry forests. Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck first described the genus in 1846 after collecting two species (T. polystachyum and T. nervosum) on the journey of .

Physacanthus is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.

Oplonia is a genus of plants in the family Acanthaceae. It includes 21 species native to western South America (Peru, Bolivia, and northwestern Argentina), the Caribbean, and Madagascar.

Pulchranthus is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae. It includes four species native to northern South America, ranging from Colombia to Bolivia and northern Brazil.

Barleriola is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.

Acanthopale is a plant genus of shrubs or subshrubs in the Acanthaceae plant family. The genus name is based on the classic Greek words for thorn ákantha and stake palum. Some species in the genus are cultivated as ornamental plants.

Pararuellia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. It includes 11 species which range from southern China to Vietnam, the Philippines, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and Maluku Islands.

Neuracanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. It includes 32 species native to tropical Africa, Madagascar, the Arabian Peninsula, Indian subcontinent, and Indochina.

Sclerochiton is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. It includes 18 species native to tropical and southern Africa.

Jadunia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.

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Mellera is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.

Megalochlamys is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.

Yeatesia is a putative genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, found in northeast Mexico and the southeast United States, from Texas to Florida. Each of its species grows in very different habitats; Yeatesia mabryi is found in hardwood forests in Mexico, Y. platystegia prefers semiarid scrublands in Mexico and Texas, and Y. viridiflora grows in wetter forest bluffs and along water courses in US Gulf Coast states. Molecular evidence shows that Yeatesia is not a monophyletic genus.

Crabbea is a genus of flowering plants native to eastern and southern Africa. They are generally low-growing perennial herbs. The five-petaled flowers are surrounded by prickly bracts.

Streblacanthus is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.

Ptyssiglottis is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae. It includes 38 species native to tropical Asia and Papuasia, ranging from Sri Lanka to Indochina, Malesia, New Guinea, and the Bismarck Archipelago.

species of plant

Pseudocalyx is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.

Herpetacanthus is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae. It includes 21 species native to the tropical Americas, ranging from Honduras to Panama in Central America, and from Ecuador and Peru to Bolivia, northern and eastern Brazil, Suriname, and French Guiana in South America.