Justicia comata

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

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.

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,936 meters (0 to 16,194 feet).[1]

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Dianthera comata L. • Ecbolium Comatum • Ecbolium comatum (L.) Kuntze • Leptostachya Comata • Leptostachya comata (L.) Nees • Psacadocalymma Comatum • Psacadocalymma comatum (L.) Bremek. • Stethoma comata (L.) Britt.

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

Members of the genus Justicia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 46 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

J. adhatoda (Adhatoda) · J. americana (American Water Willow) · J. angusta (Pineland Water-Willow) · J. aurea (Yellow Jacobinia) · J. betonica (Paper Plume) · J. borinquensis (Monte Cerrote Water-Willow) · J. brandegeana (Red Shrimp Plant) · J. brandegeana 'Fruit Cocktail' (Shrimp Plant) · J. brandegeana 'Red Pinecone' (Red Shrimp Plant) · J. brandegeana 'Variegata' (Shrimp Plant) · J. brandegeana 'Yellow Queen' (Shrimp Plant) · J. brandegeeana (Plants) · J. brandegeeana 'Fruit Cocktail' (Shrimp Plant) · J. californica (Beloperone) · J. candicans (Arizona Water-Willow) · J. carnea (Brazilian Plume) · J. carnea 'Alba' (Brazilian Plume Flower) · J. carnea 'Huntington' (Brazilian Plume Flower) · J. carnea 'Radiant' (Brazilian Plume Flower) · J. carthagenensis (Woodland Water-Willow) · J. comata (Marsh Water-Willow) · J. cooleyi (Cooley's Water-Willow) · J. crassifolia (Thick-Leaved Water-Willow) · J. culebritae (Culebrita Island Water-Willow) · J. fulvicoma (Mexican Plume) · J. gendarussa (Daun Rusa) · J. leonardii (Orange Justicia) · J. longii (Longflower Tubetongue) · J. martinsoniana (Puerto Rico Water-Willow) · J. microphylla (Thicketwort) · J. mirabiloides (West Indian Water-Willow) · J. ovata (Looseflower Water-Willow) · J. ovata var. lanceolata (Looseflower Water-Willow) · J. ovata var. ovata (Looseflower Water-Willow) · J. ovata var. ovata (Walt.) Lindau (Looseflower Water-Willow) · J. pectoralis (Freshcut) · J. pilosella (Greggs Tubetongue) · J. quadrifida (Wright's Desert Honeysuckle) · J. runyonii (Runyon's Water-Willow) · J. sonorae (Sonoran Water-Willow) · J. sphaerosperma (Tropical Waterwillow) · J. spicigera (Firecracker Plant) · J. turneri (Turners Water-Willow) · J. warnockii (Warnock's Water-Willow) · J. wrightii (Wright's Water-Willow) · J. 'Pink Parfait' (Justicia)

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

• A dictionary of English names of plants applied in England and among English-speaking people to cultivated and wild plants, trees, and shrubs, by William Miller; in two parts, English-Latin and Latin-English. London, J. Murray, 1884. url p. 210.
• Biologia centrali-americana; or, Contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America. London, Pub. for the editors by R. H. Porter and Dulau & co., 1879-88. url .
• Botanical Museum leaflets, Harvard University. 26 1978 Cambridge, Mass.: Botanical Museum, Harvard University, 1932- url p. 269, p. 282.
• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 27 1928 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 351, p. 488, p. 492, p. 57, p. 614, p. 615, p. 617, p. 647, p. 751, p. 752, p. 753, p. 754, p. 755, p. 756, p. 758, p. 759, p. 760, p. 761, p. 762, p. 764, p. 765, p. 767, p. 768.
• Contributions from the University of Michigan Herbarium. 23 2001 Ann Arbor: University Herbarium, University of Michigan, 1939- url p. 125, p. 137, p. 168, p. 174, p. 77.
• Flora Costaricensis: Family #200, Acanthaceae by L.H. Durkee, Family #201, Plantaginaceae by William Burger. 18 1986 Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, 1986. url list of illustrations , p. 35, p. 53, p. 57, p. v.
• Flora of Guatemala / Paul C. Standley, Louis O. Williams, Dorothy Nash Gibson. 24 1974 Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, 1974. url p. 388.
• Flora of Yucatan, by Paul C. Standley. 3 1930 Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History, 1930. url p. 423.
• Flora of the Aguan valley and the coastal regions near La Ceiba, Honduras, by T. G. Yuncker. 9 1940 [Chicago]1940. url p. 336.
• Flora of the Lancetilla Valley, Honduras, by Paul C. Standley. 10 1931 Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History, 1931. url p. 360, p. 361.
• Phytologia memoirs. Plainfield, N.J.: H.N. Moldenke and A.L. Moldenke, 1980- url p. 266.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. url p. 40, p. 461.
• Studies in American plants, III / Dorothy N. Gibson. 34 1972 Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, 1972. url p. 65.
• The forests and flora of British Honduras / by Paul C. Standley and Samuel J. Record; in cooperation with the Conservator of Forests and the Agricultural Officer of the Colony. 12 1936 Chicago: [Field Museum of Natural History], 1936. url p. 369.
• Wrightia. 2 1959-1963 Richardson, Tex. [etc.]University of Texas at Dallas. url p. 157, p. 258.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 25, 2007:

• Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program
• Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Virtual Herbarium Darwin Core format
• Herbarium of the University of Aarhus, The AAU Herbarium Database
• Herbier de la Guyane, Herbier de la Guyane
• Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
• , Biodiversidad de Costa Rica
• Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden
• SysTax, Herbarium Universitat Ulm
• SysTax, SysTax

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2656474
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-34362
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13749108
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:50543-1
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 34362
• MoBot NameID: 101427
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: STCO13
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 35084

Footnotes

1. Mean = 265.670 meters (871.621 feet), Standard Deviation = 709.300 based on 956 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.