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Acalypha wilkesiana
Also called Match Me If You Can, Beefsteakplant, Copperleaf, Fire Dragon, Painted Copperleaf, Redleaf, Capa De Obispo
In Singapore: Jacob's Coat 'Hoffmannii', 'Java White' Copper Leaf, WiIkes' AcaIypha, CopperIeaf, Firedragon, Fire Fiji Plant, Beef Steak Plant, Fire Dragon, 乳叶紅桑 (Cultivated in Singapore)
Jacob's Coat is an evergreen shrub with large, coppery-green leaves splashed with red, grown mainly for its foliage. It thrives in warm, humid, bright conditions and is sensitive to cold and drought.
Acalypha wilkesiana, common names copperleaf, Jacob's coat and Flamengueira, is an evergreen shrub growing to 3 metres (9.8 ft) high and 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) across. It has a closely arranged crown, with an erect stem and many branches. Both the branches and the leaves are covered in fine hairs. The leaves, which may be flat or crinkled, are large and broad with teeth around the edge. They can be 10–20 centimetres (3.9–7.9 in) long and 15 centimetres (5.9 in) wide. The leaves are coppery green with red splashes, giving them a mottled appearance. Separate male and female flowers appear on the same plant. The male flowers are in long spikes which hang downwards while the female flowers are in short spikes. The latter do not show up easily as they are often hidden among the leaves. The flower stalks are 10–20 cm long.
In South Florida and tropical America, copperleaf is a popular outdoor plant that provides colour throughout the year. It is used in mixed hedges and shrub borders and as a specimen shrub. Elsewhere copperleaf is grown as an annual where its spectacular foliage replaces flowers from late summer until frost. Copperleaf is also grown indoors as a container plant. However, it must be maintained in a warm, humid, bright environment.
A. wilkesiana is a tropical and subtropical plant which grows naturally in Vanuatu and occurs in the Pacific Islands. It prefers light well drained soil and is suited to a protected shady position. It can be damaged by both drought and frost. It needs a minimum temperature above 10 °C (50 °F). It is best suited to hardiness zones 10-12.
Acalypha wilkesiana ointment is used to treat fungal skin diseases. Oyelami et al. (2003) carried out a non-comparative study to evaluate the safety and efficiency of Acalypha wilkesiana ointment using 32 Nigerians with mycological as well as clinical evidence of mycoses. The ointment successfully controlled the mycoses in 73.3% of the affected patients.
Acalypha bipartita · Bastard Copperleaf · Acalypha ciliata · Golden falsenettle · Red-hot cat's tail · Indian Copperleaf · Acalypha integrifolia · Zambezi Acalypha · Shrubby copperleaf · Acalypha psilostachya · Acalypha villicaulis · Copperleaf
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Acalypha wilkesiana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
