Species
+

Hypoestes phyllostachya Baker

Baby's Tears, Flamingo Plant, Polka dot plant, Polkadot-Plant

Climate known 68 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

Hypoestes phyllostachya, the polka dot plant, is a species of flowering plant in the family Acanthaceae, native to South Africa, Madagascar, and south east Asia. The spots often merge into larger areas of colour.

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

About the genus · Hypoestes

Hypoestes is a flowering plant genus of about 150 species. They are widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical lands around the Indian Ocean, and some adjacent regions.

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

Family
Acanthaceae
Described by
Baker
Native to
Madagascar
Wild records
22 in range· 13 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Nov, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1385mm/yr
7 wet months · peak Jan 363 mm (CHELSA)
Light
26–43DLI
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 Hypoestes, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (December to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 1385 mm a year, wettest January at 363 mm, driest June at 8 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 43 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 10.0 °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 Eranthemum sanguinolentum Veitch ex Van Houtte; Hypoestes lasiostegia var. sanguinolenta (Veitch ex Van Houtte) Benoist; Hypoestes sanguinolenta (Veitch ex Van Houtte) Hook.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Hypoestes, 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, June to September in the northern hemisphere (December 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 (1109 mm of 1385 mm) falls in December to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.9 °C against a yearly mean of 22.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: June 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 1385 mm a year, wettest January at 363 mm, driest June at 8 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1385 mm a year at the habitat, 1109 mm of it December to March. Wettest month January at 363 mm, driest June at 8 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 721 mm to 1841 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: 26 to 43 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 43 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 24, 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 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 10.0 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 10.0 °C, the absolute minimum 7.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 12.9 °C in July (across the envelope cells 9.6 °C to 18.7 °C), warmest day 30.7 °C in November (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 10.0 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a tropical foliage plant (grouped by the genus Hypoestes, 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: 54 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 25 °C in Jul to 31 °C in Nov; mean night from 13 °C in Jul to 21 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1385 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 19 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 7.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.9 °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°39.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)7.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 26–43RH 54–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 19 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 °C29 / 25–3329 / 24–3229 / 24–3229 / 23–3228 / 21–3126 / 19–3025 / 18–2927 / 19–3029 / 22–3230 / 24–3331 / 25–3429 / 25–33
Night °C21 / 16–2321 / 16–2321 / 16–2319 / 15–2216 / 13–2114 / 11–1913 / 10–1914 / 10–1916 / 11–2018 / 13–2120 / 14–2221 / 16–23
Rain mm363 / 186–455283 / 147–452201 / 87–26155 / 31–11523 / 11–508 / 3–299 / 4–3711 / 3–3014 / 7–3546 / 22–71110 / 51–140262 / 140–300
DLI37 / 33–4336 / 32–4136 / 34–3934 / 31–3729 / 26–3426 / 24–3128 / 24–3233 / 29–3640 / 36–4143 / 40–4543 / 41–4741 / 37–45
RH %66 / 60–6966 / 60–7164 / 58–6961 / 57–6857 / 54–6557 / 53–6656 / 52–6654 / 51–6554 / 50–6356 / 53–6359 / 54–6462 / 58–67

Each figure is the median across the 19 grid cells holding the 22 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 2286:4523 (-24.325, 46.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 7.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 10.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.9 °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 19 distinct grid cells holding the 22 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2286:4523 (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 -24.50_46.250, lapse-corrected -17 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 250 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.
NativeMadagascar· introduced: Assam, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Norfolk Is., Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Brazil Southeast, Paraguay
Kew's description“subshrub” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-18.933, 47.525 · in the densest population, 12 records (55% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 22 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 13 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 410 km away. 1685 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 22 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Hypoestes phyllostachyaHypoestes phyllostachyaHypoestes phyllostachyaHypoestes phyllostachyaHypoestes phyllostachyaHypoestes phyllostachyaHypoestes phyllostachyaHypoestes phyllostachya

Photographs: (c) Shaan Aroeste, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) 吳小甄, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).

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

Hypophyllins A–D, Labdane-Type Diterpenoids with Vasorelaxant Activity from Hypoestes phyllostachya “Rosea”
Xing‐De Wu, Dan Luo, Wen‐Chao Tu, Zhen‐Tao Deng (2016) · Organic Letters
Changes in Leaf Variegation and Coloration of English Ivy and Polka Dot Plant under Various Indoor Light Intensities
Jongyun Kim, Seung Won Kang, Chun Ho Pak, Mi Seon Kim (2012) · HortTechnology
Compositions and comparison of the leaf and stem essential oils from Nigerian Hypoestes phyllostachya 'Rosea' p. Beau. [Acanthaceae].
Dorcas Olufunke Moronkola, Odunayo Christy Atewolara-Odule, Oseyemi Omowunmi Olubomehin (2009) · African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology
Response of Container-grown Plants to Six Consumer Growing Media1
O. D. R. Brown, E. R. Emino (1981) · HortScience
Consumer Willingness to Purchase Impatiens walleriana Alternatives
Kristin L. Getter, Bridget K. Behe (2013) · HortScience
Hypofolins A – L, ent‐Labdane Diterpenoids from the Roots of Hypoestes phyllostachya ‘Pink Splash’
Bin Cheng, Lin‐Fen Ding, Tong Yan, Zhang‐Qiao Xie (2018) · Chemistry & Biodiversity
ADDITION TO THE ANGIOSPERMIC FLORA OF BANGLADESH: FAMILY ACANTHACEAE
M. Ashrafuzzaman, A.K.M. Golam Sarwar (2021) · Journal of the Bangladesh Agricultural University
Effects of Elevated Ozone on Polka Dot Plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya) with Variegated Leaves
Jiaxin Sui, M. X. Wen, Lingyue Jia, Y. J. Chen (2017) · Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
Vegetação inside: uma análise comparativa de pigmentos foliares e fluorescência da clorofila em plantas variegadas
Rhuann Carlo Viero Taques, Patrícia Carla Giloni-Lima, Vanderlei Aparecido de Lima (2021) · Scientia Plena
Acanthaceae in the Serra Negra, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Denise Monte Braz, Igor Henrique Freitas Azevedo, Fátima Regina Gonçalves Salimena, Luiz Menini Neto (2022) · Rodriguésia
PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND EVALUATION OF LEAF PARTS OF HYPOESTES PHYLLOSTACHYA ROSEA FOR IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES
JENSON JACOB, MEENU JOHN (2020) · International Journal of Current Pharmaceutical Research

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 Hypoestes 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (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 77 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.