Elytraria acaulis(L.f.) Lindau

WFO wfo-0000666705 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 5 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 5 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Elytraria acaulis, photographed by P Jeganathan
fig. a P Jeganathan, CC BY 4.0 / 2019-11-22 / obs. 68935379
Elytraria acaulis, photographed by S.MORE
fig. b S.MORE, CC0 1.0 / obs. 60717355
Elytraria acaulis, photographed by i_c_riddell
fig. c i_c_riddell, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 848814
Elytraria acaulis, photographed by i_c_riddell
fig. d i_c_riddell, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 13349523
Elytraria acaulis, photographed by i_c_riddell
fig. e i_c_riddell, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 172554338
Elytraria acaulis, photographed by i_c_riddell
fig. f i_c_riddell, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 13349522
Elytraria acaulis, photographed by rosshawkins
fig. g rosshawkins, CC0 1.0 / obs. 175694771
Elytraria acaulis, photographed by rosshawkins
fig. h rosshawkins, CC0 1.0 / obs. 175694790

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 30 botanical countries

Regions where Elytraria acaulis is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, India, Sri Lanka AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaCameroonCentral African RepublicCongoDR CongoEquatorial GuineaGabonGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaLiberiaMalawiMozambiqueNigeriaNorthern ProvincesSierra LeoneSomaliaTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweIndiaSri Lanka
Native distribution of Elytraria acaulis, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
Liberia LBR
Malawi MLW
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Sierra Leone SIE
Somalia SOM
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
India IND ASIA-TROPICAL
Sri Lanka SRL

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.

Also published as 9 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.

  • Elytraria acaulis var. lyrata (Vahl) Bremek.
  • Elytraria crenata Vahl
  • Elytraria crenata var. lyrata (Vahl) Nees
  • Elytraria indica Pers.
  • Elytraria lyrata (Vahl) Vahl
  • Justicia acaulis L.f.
  • Justicia acaulis var. lyrata Vahl
  • Justicia nudicaulis Lam.
  • Tubiflora acaulis (L.f.) 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. 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.