Species
+

Aphelandra squarrosa Nees

Zebra-plant, saffron spike, saffron spike, zebraplant

Climate known 14 photographs Tropical foliage plant
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

Aphelandra squarrosa is a plant species in the family Acanthaceae, which is native to Atlantic Forest vegetation of Brazil. This plant is often used as a house plant. This plant is cited in Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius.

Text from Wikipedia, “Aphelandra squarrosa”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Aphelandra

Aphelandra is a genus of over 200 species of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, native to tropical regions of the Americas.

Text from Wikipedia, “Aphelandra”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Acanthaceae
Described by
Nees
Native to
Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast
Wild records
73 in range· 49 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Feb, mean day; nights 19 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1838mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jan 299 mm (CHELSA)
Light
22–37DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Aphelandra, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 1838 mm a year, wettest January at 299 mm, driest August at 46 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 6.0 °C habitat night).
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 Aphelandra chrysops W.Bull; Aphelandra coccinea Rizzini; Aphelandra concinna Rizzini; Aphelandra illustrata Jacob-Makoy; Aphelandra illustrata Jacob-Makoy ex T.Moore & Mast. and 13 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Aphelandra, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, southern).

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

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1393 mm of 1838 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.6 °C against a yearly mean of 19.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

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 1838 mm a year, wettest January at 299 mm, driest August at 46 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1838 mm a year at the habitat, 1393 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 299 mm, driest August at 46 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1361 mm to 2376 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: 22 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 37 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 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

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 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 6.0 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 6.0 °C, the absolute minimum -0.7 °C, 2 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 12.1 °C in July (across the envelope cells 9.4 °C to 17.1 °C), warmest day 26.8 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12 °C. The habitat figure, the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER), is 6.0 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a tropical foliage plant (grouped by the genus Aphelandra, which is reliably one kind of plant) is 12 °C, which is higher, and the floor rule takes the higher.

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, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 67% 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 21 °C in Jun to 27 °C in Feb; mean night from 12 °C in Jul to 19 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1838 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 51 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -0.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 34.2 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost34.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)-0.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 22–37RH 62–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 51 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 °C26 / 24–3027 / 24–3026 / 23–3025 / 21–2822 / 19–2621 / 18–2521 / 18–2523 / 19–2624 / 20–2725 / 21–2825 / 22–2826 / 23–29
Night °C19 / 16–2419 / 16–2418 / 16–2317 / 14–2114 / 11–1913 / 10–1812 / 9–1713 / 10–1814 / 12–1916 / 13–2017 / 14–2118 / 15–23
Rain mm299 / 210–389221 / 124–276224 / 158–296123 / 78–16376 / 47–9654 / 23–6452 / 17–6046 / 22–6294 / 63–124138 / 103–177225 / 136–297286 / 191–415
DLI36 / 33–3837 / 35–3932 / 30–3428 / 26–3023 / 21–2522 / 20–2422 / 20–2427 / 25–2928 / 26–3232 / 30–3534 / 31–3734 / 32–37
RH %66 / 64–6966 / 63–6867 / 64–7066 / 63–6965 / 62–6763 / 61–6562 / 60–6562 / 59–6464 / 61–6766 / 61–6866 / 63–7067 / 64–70

Each figure is the median across the 51 grid cells holding the 68 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 2272:2667 (-23.625, -46.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 6.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.2 °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 51 distinct grid cells holding the 68 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2272:2667 (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 -23.50_-46.875, lapse-corrected -10 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 780 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.
NativeBrazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast· introduced: Ascension, Dominican Republic
Kew's description“subshrub” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-22.427, -42.971 · in the densest population, 56 records (77% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 73 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 49 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 7 km away. 25 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 5 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 73 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Aphelandra squarrosaAphelandra squarrosaAphelandra squarrosaAphelandra squarrosaAphelandra squarrosaAphelandra squarrosaAphelandra squarrosaAphelandra squarrosa

Photographs: (c) Pablo Cauã da Silva Toledo, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); no rights reserved · CC0; Pablo Cauã da Silva Toledo, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist 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 Aphelandra squarrosa, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Benzoxazinoid biosynthesis, a model for evolution of secondary metabolic pathways in plants
Monika Frey, Katrin Schullehner, Regina Dick, Andreas Fießelmann (2009) · Phytochemistry
Benzoxazinoid biosynthesis in dicot plants
Katrin Schullehner, Regina Dick, Florian Vitzthum, Wilfried Schwab (2008) · Phytochemistry
Medicinal Plants Used for Treating Reproductive Health Care Problems in Cameroon, Central Africa1
Tsobou Roger, Pierre Marie Mapongmetsem, Patrick Van Damme (2016) · Economic Botany
Ambient mass spectrometry in metabolomics
Chaevien Clendinen, Marı́a Eugenia Monge, Facundo M. Fernández (2017) · The Analyst
A SUGGESTED CYCLE OF PLASTID DEVELOPMENTAL INTERRELATIONSHIPS
Jean M. Whatley (1978) · New Phytologist
The genetic background of benzoxazinoid biosynthesis in cereals
Bogna Makowska, Beata Bakera, Monika Rakoczy‐Trojanowska (2015) · Acta Physiologiae Plantarum

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.

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 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)
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 36 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.