Species
+

Crotalaria juncea L.

Benares hemp, Deccan Hemp, Indian hemp, Indian-hemp

Climate known 78 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

Crotalaria juncea, known as brown hemp, Indian hemp, Madras hemp, or Sunn hemp, is a tropical Asian plant of the legume family (Fabaceae). It is generally considered to have originated in India.

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

About the genus · Crotalaria

Crotalaria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae commonly known as rattlepods. The genus includes over 700 species of herbaceous plants and shrubs. Africa is the continent with the majority of Crotalaria species, which are mainly found in damp grassland, especially in floodplains, depressions and along edges of swamps and rivers, but also in deciduous bush land, roadsides and fields. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Afghanistan, Assam, Bangladesh +9
Wild records
223 in range· 107 open

At a glance

Warmest month
34°C
Apr, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1271mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Aug 222 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–41DLI
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, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1271 mm a year, wettest August at 222 mm, driest January at 9 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 9.1 °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 Crotalaria benghalensis Lam.; Crotalaria cannabinua Royle; Crotalaria fenestrata Sims; Crotalaria ferestrata Sims; Crotalaria juncea var. bengalensis (Lam.) Kuntze and 7 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September 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 (954 mm of 1271 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.8 °C against a yearly mean of 26.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

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 1271 mm a year, wettest August at 222 mm, driest January at 9 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1271 mm a year at the habitat, 954 mm of it May to September. Wettest month August at 222 mm, driest January at 9 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 836 mm to 2398 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: 28 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 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 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

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 9.1 °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 9.1 °C, the absolute minimum 2.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 16.4 °C in January (across the envelope cells 10.0 °C to 23.3 °C), warmest day 34.3 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 9.1 °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: 53 to 66% 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 27 °C in Dec to 34 °C in Apr; mean night from 16 °C in Jan to 25 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1271 mm of rain a year, most in Aug. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 162 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 2.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 41.6 °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°50°41.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)2.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 28–41RH 53–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 162 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 °C28 / 22–3130 / 25–3333 / 28–3534 / 30–3733 / 29–3831 / 28–3530 / 26–3229 / 26–3230 / 27–3229 / 27–3128 / 25–3027 / 22–30
Night °C16 / 10–2318 / 12–2421 / 16–2524 / 20–2625 / 21–2725 / 22–2724 / 21–2624 / 21–2623 / 20–2622 / 19–2519 / 14–2417 / 11–23
Rain mm9 / 2–3515 / 2–3828 / 4–7762 / 6–118147 / 20–250155 / 64–354213 / 83–492222 / 92–421217 / 112–350146 / 53–27147 / 11–25410 / 4–93
DLI33 / 27–3537 / 32–3940 / 37–4441 / 38–4636 / 33–4633 / 29–3729 / 23–3428 / 23–3430 / 27–3430 / 27–3430 / 27–3230 / 25–32
RH %55 / 50–6153 / 47–6253 / 45–6356 / 43–6461 / 46–6763 / 54–6865 / 60–7166 / 61–7166 / 61–7063 / 53–6859 / 51–6556 / 50–63

Each figure is the median across the 162 grid cells holding the 216 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 1453:5658 (17.325, 102.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 2.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 9.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.6 °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 162 distinct grid cells holding the 216 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1453:5658 (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 17.50_103.125, lapse-corrected +2 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 191 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.
NativeAfghanistan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam· introduced: Ukraine, Libya, Burkina, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Provinces, Mauritius, Madagascar, Réunion, Uzbekistan, Transcaucasus, Iraq, China South-Central, China North-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, New Guinea, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Fiji, Caroline Is., Hawaii, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Paraguay
Kew's description“annual” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker13.726, 100.554 · in the densest population, 78 records (35% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 223 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 107 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 15 km away. 813 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 7 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 223 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Crotalaria junceaCrotalaria junceaCrotalaria junceaCrotalaria junceaCrotalaria junceaCrotalaria junceaCrotalaria junceaCrotalaria juncea

Photographs: (c) Aurelijus Narbutas, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) 何小花, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Dinesh Valke, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2).

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

Addition of Cover Crops Enhances No‐Till Potential for Improving Soil Physical Properties
Humberto Blanco‐Canqui, Maysoon M. Mikha, DeAnn Presley, Mark M. Claassen (2011) · Soil Science Society of America Journal
Activity of antioxidant enzymes in response to cadmium in Crotalaria juncea
Guilherme José Gonçalves Pereira, Silvia Molina, Peter J. Lea, Ricardo Antunes Azevedo (2002) · Plant and Soil
Limites críticos de densidade do solo para o crescimento de raízes de plantas de cobertura em argissolo vermelho
Dalvan José Reinert, Jackson Adriano Albuquerque, José Miguel Reichert, Celso Aita (2008) · Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo
Produção de fitomassa por plantas de cobertura e mineralização de seus resíduos em plantio direto
José Luiz Rodrigues Torres, Marcos Gervásio Pereira, Adelar José Fabian (2008) · Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira
Adubação verde na recuperação da fertilidade de um Latossolo Vermelho-Escuro degradado
Flávia Aparecida de Alcântara, Antônio Eduardo Furtini Neto, Miralda Bueno de Paula, Hugo Adelande de Mesquita (2000) · Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira
Cover Crop Biomass Production in Temperate Agroecozones
Sabrina J. Ruis, Humberto Blanco‐Canqui, Cody F. Creech, Katja Koehler‐Cole (2019) · Agronomy Journal
Summer Cover Crops Fix Nitrogen, Increase Crop Yield, and Improve Soil–Crop Relationships
Humberto Blanco‐Canqui, Mark M. Claassen, DeAnn Presley (2012) · Agronomy Journal
Productivity and Nutrient Dynamics in Bioenergy Double‐Cropping Systems
Andrew H. Heggenstaller, Robert P. Anex, Matt Liebman, David N. Sundberg (2008) · Agronomy Journal

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