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.
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. The genus is most famed for its many species which bloom on long cycles of several years, such as Strobilanthes wightii which blooms every thirteen years.
Paulownia tomentosa, common names princess tree, empress tree, or foxglove-tree, is a deciduous hardwood tree in the family Paulowniaceae, native to central and western China. It is an extremely fast-growing tree with seeds that disperse readily, and is a persistent exotic invasive species in North America, where it has undergone naturalisation in large areas of the Eastern US. P. tomentosa has also been introduced to Western and Central Europe, and is establishing itself as a naturalised species there as well.
Carl Sigismund Kunth was a German botanist. He was also known as Karl Sigismund Kunth or anglicized as Charles Sigismund Kunth. He was one of the early systematic botanists who focused on studying the plants of the Americas. Kunth's notable contributions include the publication of Nova genera et species plantarum quas in peregrinatione ad plagam aequinoctialem orbis novi collegerunt Bonpland et Humboldt. This work spanned seven volumes and was published between 1815 and 1825.
Monocarpic plants are those that flower and set seeds only once, and then die.
Goupia is a neotropical genus of flowering plants and the sole genus included in the family Goupiaceae. There are three species, all found in tropical northern South America.
Strobilanthes kunthiana, known as Kurinji or Neelakurinji in Tamil language and Malayalam and Gurige in Kannada, is a shrub of the bear's breeches family (Acanthaceae) that is found in the shola forests of the Western Ghats in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The purplish blue flower blossoms only once in 12 years, and gave the Nilgiri Mountains range its name as nil (blue) + giri (mountains). The name Neelakurinji originates from the Malayalam language neela (blue) + kurinji (flower). Of all long interval bloomers Strobilanthes kunthiana is the most rigorously demonstrated, with documented bloomings in 1838, 1850, 1862, 1874, 1886, 1898, 1910, 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006 and 2018, these have no match to Solar cycles.
Ruellia is a genus of flowering plants commonly known as ruellias or wild petunias. They are not closely related to petunias (Petunia) although both genera belong to the same euasterid clade. The genus was named in honor of Jean Ruelle (1474–1537), herbalist and physician to Francis I of France and translator of several works of Dioscorides.
Plietesials are plants that grow for a number of years, flower gregariously (synchronously), set seed and then die. The length of the cycle can vary between 8 and 16 years. For example, the neelakurinji plant flowers every 12 years and bloomed as expected in 2006 and 2018 in the Munnar region of Kerala, India.
The Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in western Myanmar (Burma). Surrounded at lower elevations by moist tropical forests, this ecoregion is home a diverse range of subtropical and temperate species, including many species characteristic of the Himalayas, as well as many endemic species.
The Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Tomentosa' was first listed as Ulmus tomentosa by Kirchner in Arboretum Muscaviense (1864). The Hesse Nursery of Weener, Germany, distributed an Ulmus montana tomentosa in the 1930s. Green listed it as a wych elm cultivar.
Tilia tomentosa, known as silver linden in the US and silver lime in the UK, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae, native to southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia, from Romania and the Balkans east to western Turkey, occurring at moderate altitudes.
Arctostaphylos tomentosa is a species of manzanita known by the common name woollyleaf manzanita or woolley manzanita. This shrub is endemic to California.
Prunus tomentosa is a species of Prunus native to northern and western China, Korea, Mongolia, and possibly northern India. Common names for Prunus tomentosa include Nanjing cherry, Korean cherry, Manchu cherry, downy cherry, Shanghai cherry, Ando cherry, mountain cherry, Chinese bush cherry, and Chinese dwarf cherry.
Strobilanthes callosa(Synonym: Carvia callosa 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.
Strobilanthes alternata, may be known as red ivy, red-flame ivy, or waffle plant, is a member of the family Acanthaceae native to Java. It is a prostrate plant with purple colored leaves.
Strobilanthes penstemonoides is a species of flowering plant in the family Acanthaceae. It occurs in China, Bhutan, India, and Nepal. Its specific epithet has been spelled as penstemonoides, pentstemonoides, and pentastemonoides.
Populus × tomentosa, commonly known as Chinese white poplar or Peking poplar, is a species of tree in the family Salicaceae. It is found across northern and eastern China, and has been introduced to the US state of Louisiana.
Strobilanthes cusia, also known as Assam indigo or Chinese rain bell, is a perennial flowering plant of the family Acanthaceae. Native to South Asia, China, and Indochina, it was historically cultivated on a large scale in India and China as a source of indigo dye, which is also known as Assam indigo. In addition to being used for dye, it is also used in the traditional Chinese herbal medicine "Qingdai". Other names for this dicot include Pink strobilanthes and Strobilanthes flaccidifolius, where flaccidifolius is Latin for "drooping leaves".
