Overview
Interesting Facts
Common Names
Common Names in English:
Zebra Plant, Saffron Spike, Zebraplant
Description
Family Acanthaceae
The Acanthaceae are mostly herbs or shrubs comprising about 250 genera and 2,500 species, including twining forms. The leaves are simple , opposite and decussate; stipules are lacking. The flowers are bisexual , zygomorphic, and usually are associated with conspicuous , often brightly colored bracts. The calyx is usually deeply 4-5 lobed or sometimes is highly reduced with more numerous minute teeth. The corolla is sympetalous , usually 5-merous, mostly zygomorphic, and commonly 2 lipped. The androecium usually consists of 4 didynamous stamens or only 2 stamens adnate to the corolla tube or epigynous zone, alternate with the lobes . The gynoecium consists of a single compound pistil of 2 carpels, a single style, and a superior ovary with 2 locules, each with usually 2-10 axile ovules in one or two collateral vertical tiers . An annular nectary disk is usually found around the base of the ovary. The fruit is commonly an elastically dehiscent loculicidal capsule. The seed stalk or funiculus of each seed is modified into a hook shaped jaculator or retinaculum that functions in flinging out the seeds during dehiscence. -- Gerald Carr.
Physical Description
Habit: Evergreen .
Flowers: Bloom Period: June. • Flower Color: yellow
Size/Age/Growth
Size: 4-6' tall.
Biology
Growth
Culture: Space 4-6' apart.
Soil: Minimum pH: 5.1 • Maximum pH: 6.5
Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Light Shade.
Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 10a, 10b, 11. (map)
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
()
- Brongniart, 1843
- Dicotyledons
- Subclass:
Asteridae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Lamianae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Order:
Lamiales
()
- Bromhead, 1838
- Family:
Acanthaceae
()
- A.L. de Jussieu, 1789, nom. cons.
- acanthacées, acanthus
- Subfamily:
Acanthoideae
()
- Tribe:
Acantheae
()
- Genus:
Aphelandra
()
- R. Brown, 1810
- Specific epithet:
squarrosa
- Nees
- Botanical name: - Aphelandra squarrosa Nees
- Specific epithet:
squarrosa
- Nees
- Genus:
Aphelandra
(
- Tribe:
Acantheae
(
- Subfamily:
Acanthoideae
(
- Family:
Acanthaceae
(
- Order:
Lamiales
(
- Superorder:
Lamianae
(
- Subclass:
Asteridae
(
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Notes
Publishing author
: Nees. Publication
: Fl.
Bras. (Martius) 9: 89 1847.
Place of publication: C.
F. P. von Martius, Fl. bras. 9:89. 1847.
An accepted name
in the RHS
Horticultural Database.
Name
verified on 12-Dec-1995 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last
updated: 21-Aug-2006.
Similar Species
Members of the genus Aphelandra
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 6 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
A. aurantiaca (Fiery Spike) · A. aurantiaca var. roezlii (Fiery Spike) · A. mirabilis (Two-Coloured Balm Plant) · A. sinclairiana (Coral Aphelandra) · A. squarrosa (Zebra Plant) · A. tetragona (Red Aphelandra)
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Cooperative economic insect report. Hyattsville, MD. [etc.]Plant Protection and Quarantine Programs Animal and Plant Health Service. url p. 1011.
- Cyclopedia of American horticulture: comprising suggestions for cultivation of horticultural plants, descriptions of the species of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and ornamental plants sold in the United States and Canada, together with ge by L.H. Bailey, assisted by Wilhelm Miller and many expert cultivators and botanists, illustrated with two thousand eight hundred original engravings. New York: Macmillan, 1906, c1900-02. url p. 75.
- Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. url p. 235.
- Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. Washington, etc.: Entomological Society of Washington url p. 597.
- The Bradley bibliography; a guide to the literature of the woody plants of the world published before the beginning of the twentieth century; Cambridge, Riverside Press, 1911-18. url p. 797.
- The Florist and horticultural journal. Philadelphia, [Pa.: s.n.], 1853-1855. url .
- The Garden: an illustrated weekly journal of gardening in all its branches. London: [s.n., url p. 424.
- The Gardeners' chronicle: a weekly illustrated journal of horticulture and allied subjects. London: [Gardeners Chronicle], 1874-1955. url p. 131, p. 261, p. 289.
- The standard cyclopedia of horticulture; a discussion, for the amateur, and the professional and commercial grower, of the kinds, characteristics and methods of cultivation of the species of plants grown in the regions of the United States a Illustrated with colored plates, four thousand engravings in the text, and ninety-six full-page cuts. New York, Macmillan, 1919 [c1914] url p. 308.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 15, 2012.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3431689
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 14809178
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:45619-1
- GRIN Nomen Number: 403691
- International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 45619-1
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 606454
