Acanthaceae
Nicoteba

Nicoteba betonica (L.) Lindau

First published in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 18: 56 (1893)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Tropical & S. Africa, Indian Subcontinent to Myanmar. It is a perennial or subshrub and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome. It is used as animal food, a medicine and invertebrate food and has environmental uses.

Distribution

Native to:

Angola, Bangladesh, Botswana, Cape Provinces, DR Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Northern Provinces, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Introduced into:

Colombia, Cook Is., Costa Rica, Guyana, Hawaii, New Caledonia, New South Wales, Panamá, Queensland, Solomon Is., Vanuatu

Synonyms

Homotypic Synonyms

Heterotypic Synonyms

Classification

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Publications

POWO follows these authorities in accepting this name:

  • Aung, Y.L., Aung, M.H., Tan, Y. & Jin, X. (2025). An updated checklist of vascular plants of Myanmar. PhytoKeys 261: 135-364.

An alternative taxonomy had been proposed by the following authorities:

  • Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. [Cited as Justicia betonica.]

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • (2026). https://doi.org/10.54102/ajt. epublication.
  • Aung, Y.L., Aung, M.H., Tan, Y. & Jin, X. (2025). An updated checklist of vascular plants of Myanmar. PhytoKeys 261: 135-364.
  • Begum, M. & Khan, M.S. (2001). Justicia vahlii Roth. (Acanthaceae)- A new Angiospermic record for Bangladesh. Bangladesh Journal of Botany 30: 73-74.
  • Bernal, R., Gradstein, R.S. & Celis, M. (eds.) (2016). Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia 1-2: 1-3068. Libro impreso.
  • Boggan, J. Funck, V. & Kelloff, C. (1997). Checklist of the Plants of the Guianas (Guyana, Surinam, Franch Guiana) ed. 2: 1-238. University of Guyana, Georgetown.
  • Correa A., Mireya D. Galdames, Carmen Correa A., M. D., C. Galdames & M. S. de Stapf (2004). Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares de Panamá: 1-599. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
  • Dassanayake (ed.) (1998). A Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon 12: 1-390. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. PVT. LTD., New Delhi, Calcutta.
  • Figueiredo, E. & Smith, G.F. (2008). Plants of Angola. Strelitzia 22: 1-279. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
  • Fischer, E., Rembold, K., Althof, A. & Obholzer, J. (2010). Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Kakamega forest, Western province, Kenya. Journal of East African Natural History 99: 129-226.
  • Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds.) (2003). Plants of Southern Africa an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14: 1-1231. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
  • Hammel, B.E., Grayum, M.H., Herrera, C. & Zamora, N. (eds.) (2020). Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica 4(1): 1-904. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
  • Hancock, I.R. & Henderson, C.P. (1988). Flora of the Solomon Islands. Research Bulletin Dodo Creek Research Station 7: 1-203.
  • Heine, H. (1976). Flore de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et Dépendances 7: 1-212. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.
  • Lejoy, J., Ndjele, M.-B. & Geerinck, D. (2010). Catalogue-flore des plantes vasculaires des districts de Kisangani et de la Tshopo (RD Congo). Taxonomania 30: 1-307.
  • Plunkett, G.M., Ranker, T.A., Sam, C. & Balick, M.J. (2022). Towards a checklist of the vascular flora of Vanuatu. Candollea 77: 105-118.
  • Sykes, W.R. (2016). Flora of the Cook Islands: 1-973. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawaii.
  • Wagner, W.L., Herbst, D.R. & Sohmer, S.H. (1999). Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai'i, rev. ed., 1: 1-988. University of Hawai'i Press, Bishop Museum Press.

Kew Plants for Health

  • "World Checklist of Useful Pl. Spp. (Diazgranados et al., 2020)"
  • US-FDA GSRS (2025)

Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

  • Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R., & Celis, M. (eds.). (2020). Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia. v1.1. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Dataset/Checklist. https://doi.org/10.15472/7avdhn
  • Diazgranados et al. (2021). Catalogue of plants of Colombia. Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia project. In prep.
  • Diazgranados, M., Allkin, B., Black N., Cámara-Leret, R., Canteiro C., Carretero J., Eastwood R., Hargreaves S., Hudson A., Milliken W., Nesbitt, M., Ondo, I., Patmore, K., Pironon, S., Turner, R., Ulian, T. (2020). World Checklist of Useful Plant Species. Produced by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity.
  • Medicinal Plant Names Services (MPNS) v.10 (2021); http://mpns.kew.org/

Other Data

Other Kew resources that provide information on this taxon:

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • EBC Common Names

    • Common Names from Kew's Economic Botany Collection https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/collections/economic-botany-collection

  • Flora Zambesiaca

    • Flora Zambesiaca
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Plants and People Africa

    • Common Names from Plants and People Africa http://www.plantsandpeopleafrica.com/

  • Universidad Nacional de Colombia

    • ColPlantA database
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0