Species
+

Acalypha wilkesiana Müll.Arg.

Jacob's coat, Jacob's coat, Jacob's-coat, Match Me If You Can

Climate known 49 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Acalypha wilkesiana, common names copperleaf, Jacob's coat and Flamengueira, is an evergreen shrub growing to 3 metres (9.8 ft) high and 2 metres across. It has a closely arranged crown, with an erect stem and many branches. Both the branches and the leaves are covered in fine hairs. The leaves, which may be flat or crinkled, are large and broad with teeth around the edge. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Acalypha wilkesiana”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Acalypha

Acalypha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is the sole genus of the subtribe Acalyphinae. It is one of the largest euphorb genera, with approximately 450 to 462 species. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Acalypha”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Euphorbiaceae
Described by
Müll.Arg.
Native to
Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Is., Fiji +2
Wild records
34 in range· 15 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Feb, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2409mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Mar 327 mm (CHELSA)
Light
25–41DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, November to May at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.5 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 2409 mm a year, wettest March at 327 mm, driest July at 113 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 20.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Acalypha amentacea f. circinata (Müll.Arg.) Fosberg; Acalypha amentacea f. wilkesiana; Acalypha amentacea subsp. circinata (Müll.Arg.) Fosberg; Acalypha amentacea subsp. wilkesiana (Müll.Arg.) Fosberg; Acalypha chantrieri André and 39 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, November to May at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.5 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1782 mm of 2409 mm) falls in November to May. The temperature curve is flat, 3.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2409 mm a year, wettest March at 327 mm, driest July at 113 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2409 mm a year at the habitat, 1782 mm of it November to May. Wettest month March at 327 mm, driest July at 113 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1850 mm to 3298 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 20.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 20.5 °C, the absolute minimum 18.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 27.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 21.8 °C in August (across the envelope cells 18.1 °C to 24.1 °C), warmest day 27.5 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 20.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 63 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 24 °C in Aug to 28 °C in Feb; mean night from 22 °C in Aug to 25 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jul to Sep, is the three months around the coldest night. 2409 mm of rain a year, most in Mar. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 20 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 18.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 27.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.15°20°25°30°27.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)18.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 25–41RH 63–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 20 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 25–2828 / 25–2827 / 25–2827 / 25–2826 / 24–2725 / 23–2625 / 22–2624 / 23–2625 / 23–2625 / 23–2726 / 24–2827 / 24–28
Night °C25 / 20–2625 / 21–2625 / 20–2625 / 20–2624 / 19–2523 / 19–2522 / 18–2422 / 18–2422 / 18–2423 / 18–2524 / 19–2524 / 20–26
Rain mm312 / 242–399293 / 268–379327 / 271–401255 / 196–355184 / 112–269143 / 72–221113 / 69–175116 / 83–169114 / 81–209141 / 93–269180 / 109–310231 / 177–307
DLI39 / 36–4238 / 35–3935 / 34–3731 / 30–3327 / 25–2925 / 22–2725 / 23–2829 / 27–3235 / 33–3639 / 37–4040 / 38–4241 / 38–43
RH %67 / 63–7467 / 64–7468 / 64–7466 / 63–7464 / 61–7264 / 61–7263 / 59–7063 / 59–7063 / 60–7064 / 61–7265 / 62–7366 / 62–74

Each figure is the median across the 20 grid cells holding the 30 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2113:6963 (-15.675, 168.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 18.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 20.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 27.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 20 distinct grid cells holding the 30 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2113:6963 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -15.50_168.125, lapse-corrected +316 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 378 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBismarck Archipelago, Solomon Is., Fiji, Tuvalu, Vanuatu· introduced: Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Comoros, Madagascar, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Bangladesh, India, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Norfolk Is., Gilbert Is., Nauru, Niue, Tonga, Cook Is., Line Is., Marquesas, Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Hawaii, Florida, Mexico Central, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Paraguay
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-18.172, 177.541 · in the densest population, 20 records (59% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 34 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 15 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 988 km away. 1633 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 4 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 34 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Acalypha wilkesianaAcalypha wilkesianaAcalypha wilkesianaAcalypha wilkesianaAcalypha wilkesianaAcalypha wilkesianaAcalypha wilkesianaAcalypha wilkesiana

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Raja Sekhar Chimirala, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Greg III Espera, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Eileen Yayreth Pitti Samms, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Eva Li, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Robert Webster, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Acalypha wilkesiana, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Screening of crude extracts of six medicinal plants used in South-West Nigerian unorthodox medicine for anti-methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus activity
Kabir’ O. Akinyemi, Olukayode Oladapo, Chidi E Okwara, Christopher C Ibe (2005) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Correlation between Oxidative Stress, Nutrition, and Cancer Initiation
Subbroto Kumar Saha, Soo Bin Lee, Jihye Won, Hye Yeon Choi (2017) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Modulation of cytokine expression by traditional medicines: a review of herbal immunomodulators.
Kevin Spelman, J.J. Burns, Douglas J. Nichols, Nasha Winters (2006) · PubMed
Global variation in the thermal tolerances of plants
Lesley T. Lancaster, Aelys M. Humphreys (2020) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Antimicrobial activities of crude leaf extracts of Acalypha wilkesiana
P. I. Alade, O.N. Irobi (1993) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Antimicrobial, Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activities and Phytochemical Screening of Some Yemeni Medicinal Plants
Ramzi A. Mothana, Salah A. A. Abdo, Sidgi S. Hasson, Faisal M. N. Althawab (2008) · Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Exceedingly biocompatible and thin-layered reduced graphene oxide nanosheets using an eco-friendly mushroom extract strategy
Sivakumar Manickam, Kasturi Muthoosamy, Renu Geetha Bai, Ibrahim Babangida Abubakar (2015) · International Journal of Nanomedicine
Ornamental Plants as Invasive Aliens: Problems and Solutions in Kruger National Park, South Africa
Llewellyn C. Foxcroft, David M. Richardson, John R. Wilson (2007) · Environmental Management
Cancer and apoptosis: The apoptotic activity of plant and marine natural products and their potential as targeted cancer therapeutics
Gul-e-Saba Chaudhry, Abdah Md Akim, Yeong Yik Sung, Tengku Muhammad Tengku Sifzizul (2022) · Frontiers in Pharmacology
The alien flowering plants of Mexico
José Luís Villaseñor, Francisco J. Espinosa–García (2004) · Diversity and Distributions

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Acalypha 2 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 125 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.