Cultivation Details
A plant of the drier to wet, lowland tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 1,300 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 20 - 27°c, but can tolerate 12 - 32°c[1]. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about -1°c, but young growth can be severely damaged at 2°c[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 700 - 1,700mm, but tolerates 500 - 4,200mm[1]. Prefers a sunny position, tolerating light shade[1]. Prefers a pH in the range 6.5 - 7.5, tolerating 5.5 - 8[1]. Since it is unpalatable to livestock and has the ability to colonize waste places and disturbed areas, this plant may become a weed when introduced to new areas[1].
Propagation
Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Justicia+adhatoda>
Pollinators
Insects
References
- [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
- [2]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
- [3]Plant Resources of Southeast Asia — http://proseanet.org/ ↩︎Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
- [4]Ethnobotanical Uses of Biofencing Plants in Himachel Pradesh, Northwest Himalaya — Pankaj Sharma & Usha Devi · 2013 · ISBN 1028-8880 ↩︎A brief look at 61 species of plants used in hedging in northwest Himalayas nd their other uses
- [5]Medicinal Plants of East and Southeast Asia; Attributed Properties and Uses — Perry L.M. & Metzger J. · MIT Press; Cambridge, Massachussetts · 1980 · ISBN 0-262-16076-5 ↩︎A monumental work, detailing the traditional medicinal uses of plants from the region
- [6]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
- [7]An inventory of the ethnobotanicals used as anti-diabetic by a rural community of Dhemaji district of Assam, Northea — Doi Tarak; Nima D. Namsa; Sumpam Tangjang; S.C. Arya; Bhaska · 2011 ↩︎
- [8]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.
- [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎