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Justicia betonica

L. (1753)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Asterids Order: Lamiales Family: Acanthaceae Genus: Justicia

squirrel’s-tail, white shrimp plant

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Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Coarse perennial herbs 0.5–2.5 m tall.

Stems: Tinged purple, glabrous to puberulent in lines on the upper stem.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Opposite and decussate (pairs of leaves alternating 90 degrees between nodes). Blades broadly ovate to elliptic, 9–22 cm long, 3.5–12 cm wide. Surfaces green; lower surfaces slightly paler, sparsely strigillose along the margins and veins. Margins entire. Petioles 0.5–4 cm long. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in axillary and terminal spikes. each inflorescence subtended by 3 white bracts with conspicuous green veins, the large outer bract ovate, ca. 15 mm long, 10 mm wide, the inner 2 about as long, ca. 5 mm wide. Flowers bisexual (perfect). Calyx green, 5-lobed, the lobes narrowly lanceolate, ca. 5 mm long. Corolla tubular, pale lavender with a white spot outlined with purple on the lower lip, tubular, 14–17 mm long, distinctly 2-lipped, the lower lip 3-lobed. Stamens 2, often unequal, inserted on the corolla alternate with the lobes, sometimes 1 or more reduced to staminodes; anthers dithecal, opening by longitudinal slits. Ovary superior, 2-carpellate; ovule placentation axile; style filiform, simple.

Fruit: Capsules with two cells; usually dehiscing explosively; clavate; somewhat compressed parallel to the line of dehiscence; 2–lobed by protrusion of the seeds; 1.3–2 cm long; puberulent. Seeds 4; On small hooked stalks (modified funiculus) that ejects the seeds from the capsule; embryos usually large; endosperm absent.

Ploidy: 2n = 28; 34

Habitat:

Elevation Range:

Historical Distribution

Images

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Uses and Culture

USES

Natural History

Statewide Status

Naturalized

Island Status

Kaua'i Naturalized
O'ahu Naturalized
Molokai Naturalized
Lana'i Naturalized
Maui Naturalized
Hawai'i Naturalized

Dispersal Agents


Pollinators

Specimens

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Notes

  • Description digitized by Pumehana Imada
  • Often cultivated; in Hawai‘i often escaping and forming large stands. This plant is potentially a serious weed (Neal, 1965; Degener & Degener, 1962a).

Bibliography

Name Published In: Sp. Pl.: 15 (1753)

Other References

Wagner, W. L., Herbst, D. R., & Sohmer, S. H. (1999). Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai'i, Vols. 1 and 2 (No. Edn 2). University of Hawai'i and Bishop Museum Press.

Wagner et al. 1990:172 (K, O, Mo, L, M, H); Staples & Herbst 2005:87 (KEY, DESCR); Manzitto-Tripp et al. 2022 (retain Justicia in favor of Nicoteba)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Scientific Name Authorship Locality Habitat Basis of Record Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
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