Acalypha indicaL.

Indian acalypha

WFO wfo-0000953231 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Acalypha indica, photographed by 葉子
fig. a 葉子, CC0 1.0 / 2022-04-03 / obs. 204370668
Acalypha indica, photographed by 葉子
fig. b 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 204370502
Acalypha indica, photographed by Hopeland
fig. c Hopeland, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 174092159
Acalypha indica, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. d Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 169162283
Acalypha indica, photographed by Paulmathi Vinod
fig. e Paulmathi Vinod, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 163710432
Acalypha indica, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. f Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 161990978
Acalypha indica, photographed by chiuluan
fig. g chiuluan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 161458360
Acalypha indica, photographed by Ong Jyh Seng
fig. h Ong Jyh Seng, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 155057948

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 49 botanical countries

Regions where Acalypha indica is native: Angola, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Djibouti, DR Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Northern Provinces, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Hainan, Nansei-shoto, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Jawa, Laccadive Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maldives, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Pakistan, Philippines, South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam AngolaBotswanaCape ProvincesDjiboutiDR CongoEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMalawiMozambiqueNamibiaNorthern ProvincesSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweHainanOmanSaudi ArabiaTaiwanAssamBangladeshCambodiaIndiaJawaLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPakistanPhilippinesSri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnam Nansei-shotoAndaman Is.Laccadive Is.MaldivesNicobar Is.South China Sea
Native distribution of Acalypha indica, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Cambodia CBD
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laccadive Is. LDV
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maldives MDV
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Pakistan PAK
Philippines PHI
South China Sea SCS
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
Angola ANG AFRICA
Botswana BOT
Cape Provinces CPP
Djibouti DJI
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Northern Provinces TVL
Socotra SOC
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Hainan CHH ASIA-TEMPERATE
Nansei-shoto NNS
Oman OMA
Saudi Arabia SAU
Taiwan TAI

Not drawn on the map: Socotra. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 59 in flower of 70 examined

Peak flowering in May. Each bar is the share of Acalypha indica observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 59 of 70 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 4 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 16 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Acalypha canescens Benth.
  • Acalypha canescens Wall.
  • Acalypha caroliniana Blanco
  • Acalypha chinensis Benth.
  • Acalypha ciliata Benth.
  • Acalypha ciliata Wall.
  • Acalypha cupamenii Dragend.
  • Acalypha decidua Forssk.
  • Acalypha fimbriata Baill.
  • Acalypha indica var. indica
  • Acalypha somalensis Pax
  • Acalypha somalium Müll.Arg.
  • Acalypha spicata Forssk.
  • Cupamenis indica (L.) Raf.
  • Ricinocarpus deciduus (Forssk.) Kuntze
  • Ricinocarpus indicus (L.) Kuntze

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol ACIN12. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.