RUELLIA CAROLINIENSIS
Author: LACHASHA COOPER
Major:  Biology /Pre-Med.
Ecology 3500
The University of Georgia
Athens

E-mail Address: keshiac@arches.uga.edu
 

Scientific Name:  Ruellia  Caroliniensis
 

Authority:  Steudel
 

Common Names:  Carolina Ruellia, Wild Petunia,and Hairy Ruellia

 

Higher Taxa:
        Class:  Dicotyledenae
        Order:  Scrophuliales
        Family:  Acanthaceae
        Genus:  Ruellia
        Species:  Caroliniensis

Identification:   Ruellia is a friendly plant , coming to live in our lawns and gardens if we do not drive it away with poisons and vigorous weeding .  It appears in summer and seems to thrive on the heat of the Piedmont, bring a welcome touch of cool blue on shimmery June and July days.

        Ruellia caroliniensis, or Hairy Ruellia , is distributed widely throughout North Carolina and is found in woods and clearing from Southeastern Ohio to central new Jersey and south.  Sometimes called the wild petunia, it has trumpet-shaped flowers ending in 5 flaring lobes.  Each individual flower lasts just one day, though a single plant will produce many flowers.  the stems and leaves of this species are hairy, which gives us its common name. " Ruellia " is from Jean ruel, a 16th-century French botanist--Esther Pardue.
 
 

Identification Guide: the following identification key distinguishes the 2 species, Ruellia caroliniensis and Ruellia caroiniensisdentate:

                                Pubescent perennial, 1-6 dm tall.  Leaves ovate, lanceolate, or elliptic, to 10 cm long and 4.5 cm wide, pubescent or glabrate, petioles to 12 mm long.  Flowers in sessile or sub sessile glomerules at middle and upper nodes.  Calyx lobes usually hirsute, linear-setaceous, 15-22 mm long,less than 2 mm wide; corolla 2.5-4.5 cm long, tube longer than throat, lobes 5-15 mm long; ovary pubescent.  Capsules usually glabrous, 12-16mm long, ca. 5 mm broad; seeds brown, 2-2.5 mm broad.  May-September. Dry woods, sandy fields and rock crevices; throughout(Ashles, Boll,Radford)...................................................................................................................................Ruelliacaroliniensis

                                Leaf arrangement:  opposite, leaf type:  simple, leaf margin: entire undulate dentate, leaf venation:  pinnate, leaf shape: oblong, landedate ovate , inflorescence:  dischasium, flower merous: 5, flower structure:  complete regular, flower color :  blue purple, flower placement:  hypogynous, fruit:  capsule, growth form:  dicot-herb, habit: dry, natural communities:  forest, upland forest, dry, sand forest , dry, tropical status:   autotrophic CO2 fixation: C3 (Iverson)....................Ruellia carolinisensis dentate

                                Plant 8" to 2' high, with showy, violet-blue, trumpet-shaped flowers resembling cultivated, single petunias(Schulz).....................Ruellia occidentalsSchulz).......................................Ruellia drummondiana

                                Flowers pale blue, about 2 in. long and across, funnel-shaped with spreading 5-lobed boarder, sessile in leaf-axils. Stamens 4. Calyx lobes bristle-like. Stem almost lacking early in season, later 1-2 in. long Leaves elliptic, hardly, 1-4 in. long. Sandy soil. Spring to fall. Fla. to GA and Miss(Baker)...................Ruellia humilis

                                Flowers blue, 2 in. long. Stems 6-24 in. tall. Leaves oval or elliptic, sessile, 1-3in. long, pubescent. Dry soil. Fla. to tex. and N.J.Baker......................Ruellia ciliosa

                                Flowers blue, 2 in. long. Steams 6-24 in. tall. Leaves stalked, oval or elliptic, 1-4 in. long. Woods and sandy soil. Fla. to Tex. and Md.Baker....................Ruellia parviflora

                                Griseb-Erect herb simple or divergently branching near the base up to 1m tall, stems quadrangular and grooved, covered with pale cystoliths. Leaves up to 10 cm long, oblong-ovate to somewhat cordate, obscurely or irregularly serrate. Flowers in a narrow, terminal panicle, densely glandular-pubescent, corolla pale blue violet. Capsule 2-2.4cm long, glandular-pubescent. Disturbed sites, south Fla., near Homestead, naturalized from Argentina. Spring , summer(Lakela and Long)................Ruellia lorentziana

                                Greenm.-Erect herbs with one to several stems to 1m tall. Leaves to 12 cm long, large blades over 2 cm wide, lance-ovate to elliptic, acute accumulate at the apex, cuneate to the base, margins undulate-dentate. Flowers solitary or in few-flowered cymes on axially peduncles; calyx lobes 1-2 cm long, linear-lanceolate, corolla deep lavender or blue, 4-5 cm long. Capsule 2-2.5 cm long, cylindrical, brown, seeds sub orbicular, about 2 mm wide. 2n=34. Disturbed sites, Key West, Tex. Mexico, naturalized from tropical America. Spring , summer(Lakela and Long)...................Ruellia malacosperma

                                Leonard ex Fern.-Erect herb with stems one to several to 1m tall, glabrous, usually branched near the top. Leaves to 30 cm long, linear-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, larger blades less than 2 cm wide, accumulate to the apex, tapering to the base, entire to undulate. Flowers solitary or in few-flowered cymes on axially peduncles. Calyx lobes linear-lanceolate, 0.5-1cm long; corolla lavender or blue, 2-4 cm long; cleistogamous flowers small, tubular, greenish brown. Capsule 2-2.5 cm long, cylindrical, seeds suborbicular, about 2 mm wide. 2n=34. Disturbed sites, peninsular Fla. , scattered sites in southeast U.S., Tex., naturalized from Mexico. Spring, summer(Lakela and Long)............................Ruellia brittoniana

 

Geography
 

Ruellia Caroliniensis
AREA STATUS REFERENCES
North America: 
Continental United States; Canada		 Hall,1993
Eastern North America: 
United States east of Mississippi; 
Ontario and eastern Canada		 Common Hall,1993
Southeastern United States: 
AL AR DE DC FL GA KY MD NC SC TN VA WV		 Common Baker,1949
Southern Appalachian States: 
AL GA KY MD NC SC TN VA WV		 Common Schulz,1928
Baker,1949
Coastal Plain Common Hall,1993
Piedmont Common Self
Blue Ridge Mountains Rare Baker,1938
Baker,1949
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
 Rare Baker,1938 
Baker,1949
Ridge and Valley Common Reiser
Cumberland Plateau No  Self
Central Arch Yes  Self
Georgia No Self
Clarke County, Georgia No Self

http://www.sierraclub.org/chapters/sandiego/rareplants/193.html

http:www.fs.fed.us/ne/delaware/ilpin/R.htm
 
 
 

Natural History

Ruellia Caroliniensis, or Hairy Ruellia , is distributed widely throughoutNorth Carolina and is found in woods and clearings from Southeastern Ohioto central New Jersey and south.  Sometimes called the wild petunia, it has trumpet-shaped flowers ending in 5 flaring lobes.  Each individual flower lasts just one day, though a single plant will produce many flowers. The stems and leaves of this species are hairy, which gives us its common name.  "Ruellia" is from Jean jRuel, a 16th-century French botanist(Pardue, 1996).

http://www.rtpnet.org/~nhas/tna/06p.html

http://www.ftg.fiu.edu/vh/family.html

http://.botany.com/ruellia.html

http://www.nsis.org/garden/family/acanthus.html
 

How To Encounter
These plants are found in dry sites (Hall 1993).Also, these plants can be found at river bottoms, on roadsides in pastures and in waste places.  Plants grow singly , but more often in patches(Schulz,1928).They are often found in your lawn and garden if we do not drive them away with poisons and vigorous weeding(Pardue).  These plants are found during the Spring-Fall.

http://www.icangarden.com/PlantProfile/pro10.htm

References

     
  1. Baker, Mary Francis.1938. Florida Wild Flowers:  An Indtroductionto the Florida Flora. The Macmillan Company.  Norwood , Mass.

    2.  
  2. Baker, Mary Francis.  1949. Florida wild Flowers:  An Indroduction to the Florida Flora.  The Macmillan Company.  Norwood ,Mass.

    3.  
  3. Hall, David.  1993.  Illustrated Plants of Florida and the Coastal Plain.  Maupin House.  Gainesville, Florida.

    4.  
  4. Loughmiller, Campbell and Lynn.  1994. Texas Wildflowers. Library of Congress.

    5.  
  5. Lakela, Olga and Long, Robert.  1971. A Flora of Tropical Florida:  A Manual of the Seed Plants and Ferns of Southern Peninsual Florida.  University of Miami Press. Coral Gables. Florida.

    6.  
  6. Schulz, Ellen.  1928.  Texas Wild Flowers:  A popular Account of the Common Wild Flowers of Texas.  Laidlaw Brothers. Chicago, Illinois.
  7. Rickett, Harold William. 1967. Wild Flowers of The United States: vol. Two The Southeastern States. The New York Botanical Garden. McGraw-HillBook Company. NY.

    8.  
  8. Shetler, Stanwyn G. and Laurence E. Skog. 1978. A Provisional Checklistof Species for Flora North America. Missouri Botanical Garden.

    9.  
  9. Wofford, B. Eugene. 1989. Guide to the Vascular Plants of the Blue Ridge.The University of Georgia Press. Athens, GA. ISBN: 0-8203-1049-2.


    10. http://www.rtpnet.org/~nhas/tna/06p.html-  Coin, Patrick, Pardue, Esther and Len.  Copyright 1996.

    http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/delaware/ilpin/R.htm

    http://www.sierraclub.org/chapters/sandiego/rareplants/193.html-Reiser. Copyright May1994.

    http://www.icangarden.com/PlantProfile/prof10.htm-Schillen ,Joyce.  Copyright1997.