Acanthaceae is a 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.
Justicia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. It is the largest genus within the family, encompassing around 700 species with hundreds more as yet unresolved. They are native to tropical to warm temperate regions of the Americas, India and Africa. The genus serves as host to many butterfly species, such as Anartia fatima. Common names include water-willow and shrimp plant, the latter from the inflorescences, which resemble a shrimp in some species. The generic name honours Scottish horticulturist James Justice (1698–1763). They are closely related to Pachystachys.
Dicliptera is a genus of flowering plants in the bear's breeches family, Acanthaceae. Well-known synonyms include Peristrophe and Dactylostegium.
Stenandrium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae native to the Americas.
The genus Asystasia belongs to the family Acanthaceae and comprises approximately 70 species found in the tropics, including the weedy species Asystasia gangetica.
Blepharis dhofarensis is a species of plant in the family Acanthaceae. It is a shrub that grows to around 5m tall and is found in Oman and Yemen. Blepharis dhofarensis grows on wet escarpment woodlands and it prefers dense thickets on steep slopes. It is threatened by habitat loss. Recent molecular work has placed it in the genus Acanthus instead of Blepharis.
Blepharis is a genus of plant in family Acanthaceae. It contains around 126 species found in seasonally dry to arid habitats from Africa over Arabia to Southeast Asia. In section Acanthodium, there are 13–15 species that use the C4 carbon fixation pathway. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that this pathway evolved up to three times independently in the genus over the last five million years.
Brillantaisia is a genus of plants in the family Acanthaceae. They are native to the African tropics and subtropics, including Madagascar. They may grow from 20 cm to 2 m in height. Their hirsute stems are square in cross-section and their heart-shaped leaves have an opposite arrangement. Their purple or white pea-like flowers produce long, cigar-shaped seed pods. They reproduce easily from seeds or vegetatively. One species, B. lamium, is invasive in Queensland.
Monechma is a genus of plants in the family Acanthaceae, closely related to the genus Justicia.
Rhinacanthus is a genus of plants in the family Acanthaceae. It contains the following species :
Whitfieldia is a genus of plants in the family Acanthaceae with about 14 species in tropical Africa.
Mimulopsis is a genus in the flowering plant family Acanthaceae with about 30 species native to tropical Africa and Madagascar.
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.
Metarungia is a small Afrotropical genus in the family Acanthaceae of dicotyledonous flowering plants. They have large, colourful corollas, and are morphologically similar to Anisotes, which is also assumed to be bird-pollinated. They differ mainly in the dehiscence of the fruit capsule, and details of the placenta.
Metarungia pubinervia is an Afrotropical plant species in the acanthus family, which is native to forest understorey in the Afromontane archipelago. It is widespread in eastern Africa, with isolated populations in southern Africa and Nigeria. The species is named for the fine down that covers the main leaf veins (-nervia).
Petalidium, commonly known as petal-bushes, is a genus of perennial shrubs in the acanthus family. They are native to sandy flats or stony slopes in the drier bush regions of Africa, India and the Mascarene Islands. The majority of species occur in frost-free, summer rainfall regions of southern Africa, and may be found from low to medium altitudes.
Phlogacanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae and tribe Andrographideae. Its distribution includes India through to Indo-China, southern China and Sulawesi.
Nelsonia is a genus of plants in the family Acanthaceae. They can be found in tropical: Africa, Latin America, south-east Asia and Australia.
