Nelsonia canescens(Lam.) Spreng.

blue pussyleaf

WFO wfo-0000379839 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Nelsonia canescens, photographed by Maria Janeiro
fig. a Maria Janeiro, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-01 / obs. 192896813
Nelsonia canescens, photographed by ONG SOS Biodiversity
fig. b ONG SOS Biodiversity, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184067444
Nelsonia canescens, photographed by Cheongweei Gan
fig. c Cheongweei Gan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 176723207
Nelsonia canescens, photographed by National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project
fig. d National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 163487011
Nelsonia canescens, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. e Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101473385
Nelsonia canescens, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. f Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 92837111
Nelsonia canescens, photographed by Francis Pérez
fig. g Francis Pérez, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 69208994
Nelsonia canescens, photographed by Dinesh Valke
fig. h Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 119276889

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.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
210714
Filed as
Nelsonia canescens (Lam.) Spreng.
Det. by
H. I. Stevens 2003-01-01
Collected
H. I. Stevens 2003-02-08
Origin
PR
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 59 botanical countries

Regions where Nelsonia canescens is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Caprivi Strip, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China South-Central, China Southeast, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Sulawesi, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCameroonCaprivi StripCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEquatorial GuineaEritreaEthiopiaGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMaliMauritaniaMozambiqueNigerNigeriaRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina South-CentralChina SoutheastAssamBangladeshCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaLaosMalayaMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPhilippinesSulawesiThailandVietnamWest HimalayaNorthern TerritoryQueenslandWestern Australia Andaman Is.
Native distribution of Nelsonia canescens, 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
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Caprivi Strip CPV
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Mozambique MOZ
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Laos LAO
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Philippines PHI
Sulawesi SUL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
Northern Territory NTA AUSTRALASIA
Queensland QLD
Western Australia WAU
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 332 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 10.9 °C 19.7 °C 24.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 28.6 °C 31.1 °C 38.9 °C
Annual rainfall 702 mm 1,389 mm 3,132 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 1 mm 11 mm 509 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 332 research-grade observations of Nelsonia canescens that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 35 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.

  • Acanthodium spicatum Nees
  • Dianthera celebica Rolfe
  • Dianthera tomentosa Roxb. ex C.B.Clarke
  • Justicia ajugoides Buch.-Ham. ex Nees
  • Justicia bengalensis Spreng.
  • Justicia canescens Lam.
  • Justicia lamiifolia J.Koenig ex Roxb.
  • Justicia nummulariifolia Vahl
  • Justicia origanoides Vahl
  • Justicia pentasticha Buch.-Ham. ex Wall.
  • Justicia pusilla Pohl ex Nees
  • Justicia tomentosa Roxb.
  • Justicia vestita Schult.
  • Nelsonia albicans Kunth
  • Nelsonia brunelloides var. canescens (Lam.) Kuntze
  • Nelsonia campestris R.Br.
  • Nelsonia campestris var. vestita (Schult.) C.B.Clarke
  • Nelsonia canescens var. canescens
  • Nelsonia canescens var. vestita (Schult.) E.Hossain
  • Nelsonia lamiifolia (J.Koenig ex Roxb.) R.Br. ex Spreng.
  • Nelsonia nummulariifolia (Vahl) Roem. & Schult.
  • Nelsonia origanoides (Vahl) Roem. & Schult.
  • Nelsonia pohlii Nees
  • Nelsonia rotundifolia R.Br.

and 11 more.

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. 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.