
Acanthaceae FAMILY
Elytraria imbricata
Elytraria imbricata
Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
2/5
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
HabitPerennial
Growth—
A plant of tropical areas, where it is found at elevations from sea level to over 1,500 metres. A common weed of waste ground in Central America[1], it has been introduced into the Galapagos Islands, where it has become invasive[2].
Propagation
Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Elytraria+imbricata>
Pollinators
Data unavailable
References
- [1]Flora of Guatemala — Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark · 1946 - 1976 · http://www.archive.org/ ↩︎A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/
- [2]Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk — http://www.hear.org/pier/scientificnames/index.html ↩︎A very good website detailing weed species that have been introduced into the Pacific Islands.
- [3]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
- [4]Flora of Costa Rica — Standley P.C. · Field Museum of Natural History; Chicago · 1938 · http://www.archive.org/ ↩︎Rather dated, but an excellent treatment of the area. Available for download from the internet.
- [5]Flora of Yucatan — Standley P.C. · Field Museum of Natural History; Chicago · 1930 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎The first flora that was attempted for this area in 1930, so it is obviously lacking information and the Botanical names can be out of date. Still, an excellent work and it records many plant uses. It can be downloaded from the Internet.