Species
+

Bacopa monnieri (L.) Pennell

Herb of grace (EN), Indian pennywort, Indian-pennywort, adha-birni

Climate known 58 photographs
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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

Bacopa monnieri, also known as water hyssop, brahmi, thyme-leafed gratiola, herb of grace, and Indian pennywort, is a perennial, creeping herb native to wetland areas globally.

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

About the genus · Bacopa

Bacopa is a genus of 60 aquatic plants belonging to the family Plantaginaceae. It is commonly known as waterhyssop.

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

Family
Plantaginaceae
Described by
(L.) Pennell
Native to
Egypt, Nigeria, Congo +95
Wild records
1603 in range· 618 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Jul, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1206mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Aug 161 mm (CHELSA)
Light
21–41DLI
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 summer growing season, March and May to October in the northern hemisphere (March and May to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1206 mm a year, wettest August at 161 mm, driest January at 59 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 8.9 °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 ? monniera L.; Allocalyx microphylla Cordem.; Alonsoa hirsuta (Spreng.) Steud.; Anisocalyx limnanthiflorus (L.) Hance; Bacopa monnieri (L.) Hayata & Matsum. and 45 more.

Cultivation

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

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 (881 mm of 1206 mm) falls in March and May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 25.1 °C against a yearly mean of 22.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April and 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 1206 mm a year, wettest August at 161 mm, driest January at 59 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1206 mm a year at the habitat, 881 mm of it March and May to October. Wettest month August at 161 mm, driest January at 59 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 577 mm to 1826 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern 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: 21 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 21 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 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

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 8.9 °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 8.9 °C, the absolute minimum 3.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 13.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells 5.7 °C to 22.0 °C), warmest day 30.3 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 8.9 °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: 58 to 63% 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 22 °C in Jan to 30 °C in Jul; mean night from 13 °C in Jan to 25 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1206 mm of rain a year, most in Aug. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1204 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 3.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 29.5 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°29.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)3.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 21–41RH 58–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1204 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 °C22 / 15–2823 / 17–2924 / 20–3026 / 23–3229 / 24–3330 / 25–3330 / 24–3430 / 24–3529 / 24–3127 / 23–3025 / 20–2822 / 16–28
Night °C13 / 6–2214 / 7–2216 / 10–2318 / 14–2421 / 16–2523 / 16–2624 / 16–2625 / 15–2623 / 16–2520 / 15–2417 / 11–2314 / 7–23
Rain mm59 / 13–13466 / 9–13782 / 6–14367 / 9–12989 / 20–179143 / 33–243144 / 41–237161 / 46–255155 / 57–253107 / 37–20569 / 12–15064 / 9–147
DLI23 / 18–3628 / 23–3933 / 29–4339 / 31–4741 / 31–4639 / 29–4340 / 26–4437 / 28–4233 / 30–3829 / 26–3624 / 20–3521 / 17–35
RH %58 / 53–6359 / 51–6458 / 49–6458 / 49–6560 / 52–6563 / 56–6663 / 55–6763 / 54–6763 / 55–6660 / 55–6559 / 54–6459 / 53–64

Each figure is the median across the 1204 grid cells holding the 1517 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 1300:6035 (24.975, 121.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 3.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 8.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.5 °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 1204 distinct grid cells holding the 1517 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1300:6035 (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 25.00_121.875, lapse-corrected +321 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 422 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.
NativeEgypt, Nigeria, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Socotra, Somalia, Mozambique, KwaZulu-Natal, Aldabra, Chagos Archipelago, Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine, Sinai, Gulf States, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Laccadive Is., Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaya, Gilbert Is., Marianas, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., French Guiana, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Argentina Northwest, Chile Central, Chile North, Paraguay, Uruguay· introduced: Portugal, Spain, Andaman Is., Marquesas, California
Kew's description“annual or subshrub” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker27.615, -82.736 · in the densest population, 482 records (30% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1603 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 618 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2008 km away. 233 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 86 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 inside the densest 4° block of the 1603 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Bacopa monnieriBacopa monnieriBacopa monnieriBacopa monnieriBacopa monnieriBacopa monnieriBacopa monnieriBacopa monnieri

Photographs: (c) Douglas Goldman, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (5); (c) Zack Abbey, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) James Hardee, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Phytochelatin synthesis and response of antioxidants during cadmium stress in Bacopa monnieri L◊
Seema Mishra, Suchi Srivastava, Rudra Deo Tripathi, R. Govindarajan (2006) · Plant Physiology and Biochemistry
Effect of biologically synthesized silver nanoparticles on Bacopa monnieri (Linn.) Wettst. plant growth metabolism
Chandran Krishnaraj, Enthai Ganeshan Jagan, R. Ramachandran, S. Abirami (2012) · Process Biochemistry
Chronic Effects of Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri) on Human Memory
Steven Roodenrys (2002) · Neuropsychopharmacology
Neuropharmacological Review of the Nootropic Herb Bacopa monnieri
Sebastián Aguiar, Thomas B. Borowski (2013) · Rejuvenation Research
Effects of a Standardized Bacopa monnieri Extract on Cognitive Performance, Anxiety, and Depression in the Elderly: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial
Carlo Calabrese, William L. Gregory, Michael C. Leo, Dale F. Kraemer (2008) · The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
Cognitive enhancement and neuroprotective effects of Bacopa monnieri in Alzheimer's disease model
Nongnut Uabundit, Jintanaporn Wattanathorn, Supaporn Mucimapura, Kornkanok Ingkaninan (2009) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used in Terai forest of western Nepal
Anant Gopal Singh, Akhilesh Kumar, D. D. Tewari (2012) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Effect of Fagonia Arabica (Dhamasa) on in vitro thrombolysis
Sweta Prasad, Rajpal S. Kashyap, Jayant Y Deopujari, Hemant J. Purohit (2007) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Neuroprotective effect of Bacopa monnieri on beta-amyloid-induced cell death in primary cortical culture
Nanteetip Limpeanchob, Somkiet Jaipan, Saisunee Rattanakaruna, Watoo Phrompittayarat (2008) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Corrosion Inhibition of Carbon Steel in HCl Solution by Some Plant Extracts
Ambrish Singh, Eno E. Ebenso, M.A. Quraishi (2012) · International Journal of Corrosion

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 164 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.