Species
+

Graptophyllum pictum (L.) Griff.

Caricature Plant, Caricature-Plant

Climate known 37 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

Graptophyllum pictum, the caricature-plant, is a shrub in the family Acanthaceae. It is native to New Guinea, also a well-known garden shrub. There are two varieties: the variegated color one is known as 'white adulsa', and is used combined with coconut water to reduce swelling. The dark-leaved variety is known with trade name 'black adulsa' in India.

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

About the genus · Graptophyllum

Graptophyllum is a genus of plants in the family Acanthaceae. It includes 15 species with a disjunct distribution, with one species native to tropical Africa, and the others to New Guinea, Queensland, and the southwest Pacific Islands.

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

Family
Acanthaceae
Described by
(L.) Griff.
Native to
New Guinea
Wild records
109 in range· 108 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Nov, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2810mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Mar 317 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–35DLI
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: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (October to May at the habitat (not shifted)). Habitat rain 2810 mm a year, wettest March at 317 mm, driest August at 145 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 18.5 °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 Graptophyllum hortense Nees; Graptophyllum hortense var. luridosanguineum (Sims) Chitt.; Graptophyllum hortense var. rubrum Hassk.; Graptophyllum hortense var. viride Hassk.; Graptophyllum medioauratum Linden and 17 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (October to May at the habitat (not shifted)).

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

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (2141 mm of 2810 mm) takes 8 months, October to May. Mean temperature moves 1.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there 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 2810 mm a year, wettest March at 317 mm, driest August at 145 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2810 mm a year at the habitat, 2141 mm of it October to May. Wettest month March at 317 mm, driest August at 145 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1799 mm to 4148 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: 27 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 35 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 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 18.5 °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 18.5 °C, the absolute minimum 15.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 20.6 °C in August (across the envelope cells 12.6 °C to 24.6 °C), warmest day 27.6 °C in November (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 18.5 °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: 68 to 70% 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 26 °C in Jul to 28 °C in Nov; mean night from 21 °C in Aug to 22 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jul to Sep, is the three months around the coldest night. 2810 mm of rain a year, most in Mar. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 92 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 15.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°38.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)15.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 27–35RH 68–70 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 92 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 / 21–3027 / 21–3027 / 21–2927 / 21–2927 / 21–2926 / 20–2926 / 19–2826 / 20–2927 / 20–2927 / 21–3028 / 21–3028 / 21–30
Night °C22 / 14–2522 / 14–2522 / 14–2522 / 14–2522 / 13–2521 / 13–2521 / 13–2521 / 13–2521 / 13–2522 / 13–2522 / 13–2522 / 14–25
Rain mm295 / 199–461294 / 191–458317 / 226–478287 / 187–398230 / 119–359196 / 89–316153 / 79–358145 / 80–310175 / 110–323215 / 119–336217 / 138–317286 / 170–406
DLI32 / 27–3632 / 27–3532 / 28–3430 / 27–3329 / 26–3127 / 23–3027 / 23–3030 / 26–3333 / 29–3735 / 31–3834 / 30–3932 / 28–36
RH %69 / 64–7269 / 65–7269 / 65–7270 / 66–7369 / 66–7369 / 66–7369 / 65–7368 / 64–7268 / 64–7268 / 65–7268 / 65–7269 / 65–72

Each figure is the median across the 92 grid cells holding the 109 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 1988:6546 (-9.425, 147.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 15.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 18.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.1 °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 92 distinct grid cells holding the 109 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1988:6546 (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 -9.50_147.500, lapse-corrected -232 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 225 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.
NativeNew Guinea· introduced: Ghana, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Mauritius, Réunion, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Solomon Is., Fiji, New Caledonia, Tokelau-Manihiki, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Line Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Florida, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Venezuela
Kew's description“shrub” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-6.45, 146.783 · in the densest population, 75 records (69% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 109 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 108 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 482 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 109 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Graptophyllum pictumGraptophyllum pictumGraptophyllum pictumGraptophyllum pictumGraptophyllum pictumGraptophyllum pictumGraptophyllum pictumGraptophyllum pictum

Photographs: (c) Greg III Espera, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Sunday Berlioz KAKPO, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Ana Liz Barria Bultron, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Jay Brasher, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Brian Oakes Haiti Hunter, some rights reserved (CC BY) (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 Graptophyllum pictum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Green synthesis of magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles using Graptophyllum pictum leaf aqueous extract
Indah Permata Sari, Yoki Yulizar (2017) · IOP Conference Series Materials Science and Engineering
Antiinflammatory effect of Graptophyllum pictum (L.) Griff.
Yukihiro Ozaki, Setsuko Sekita, Soekeni Soedigdo, Masatoshi Harada (1989) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Phytochemical screening, phenolic and flavonoid contents, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of Graptophyllum pictum (L.) Griff
Nadechanok Jiangseubchatveera, Saisunee Liawruangrath, Aphiwat Teerawutgulrag, Dammrong Santiarworn (2017) · Research Online (University of Wollongong)
Graptophyllum pictum (L.) Griff. (Syn: Justicia picta Linn.) and its Effectiveness: A Well-Known Indonesian Plant
Feda Anisah Makkiyah, Eldiza Puji Rahmi, Rika Revina, Tiwuk Susantiningsih (2021) · Pharmacognosy Journal
In Vitro and In Silico Evaluation of Anticholinesterase and Antidiabetic Effects of Furanolabdanes and Other Constituents from Graptophyllum pictum (Linn.) Griffith
Nathalie Tanko Metiefeng, Alfred Ngenge Tamfu, Maurice Fotsing Tagatsing, Turibio Kuiate Tabopda (2023) · Molecules
Alteration of Leaf Anatomy of Handeuleum (Graptophyllum pictum L. Griff) due to Gamma Irradiation
Arrin Rosmala, Nurul Khumaida, Dewi Sukma (2016) · HAYATI Journal of Biosciences
Blood glucose lowering effect of aqueous extract of Graptophyllum pictum (Linn) Griff. on alloxan-induced diabetic rats and its acute toxicity in mice
SO Olagbende-Dada, SO Ogbonnia, H. A. B. Coker, G.E. Ukpo (2011) · AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
The Chemical Constituents and the Cytotoxicity, Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of the Essential Oil ofGraptophyllum pictum(L.) Griff.
Nadechanok Jiangseubchatveera, Boonsom Liawruangrath, Saisunee Liawruangrath, Aphiwat Teerawutgulrag (2015) · Journal of Essential Oil Bearing Plants
Optimization of Graptophyllum pictum leaves extraction using a simplex centroid design focused on extracting flavonoids with antioxidant activity
Feda Anisah Makkiyah, Eldiza Puji Rahmi, Tiwuk Susantiningsih, Nelly Marliani (2023) · Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science

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 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (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 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; 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 71 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.