Anisacanthus thurberi (Torr.) A. Gray

vernacular Thurber's desert honeysuckle — species · Acanthaceae

USDA: ANTH2
GBIF: 5415449
Rank: species

Thurber's desert honeysuckle (Anisacanthus thurberi) — Platephotograph · Patrick AlexanderCC BY-NC-ND source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Shrub
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Acanthaceae Juss.
Genus: Anisacanthus

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 13 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 13 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: High
Moisture use: Low
Fire: Low
Salinity: Low
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: Medium

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -3 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 210 min.
Precipitation: 8–14 in/yr
pH range: 6.4–8.4
Root depth: 18 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Multiple Stem
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 4.5 ft
Height @ 20 y: 4 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Moderate
Flower colour: Red
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Mid Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: No Known Source
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: Yes
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 13 counties across 1 state.

Arizona view state ↗ 13 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ANTH2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5415449 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T05:06:36Z