Ruellia ciliosa

Ruellia ciliosa
Photo taken by Gil Nelson
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class:	Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Order:	Scrophulariales
Family:	Acanthaceae
Genus:	Ruellia
Species:	R. ciliosa
Binomial name
Ruellia ciliosa (Pursh) R.W. Long
Natural range of Ruellia ciliosa from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common names:Sandhills Wild Petunia, Ciliate Wild Petunia (Nelson 2006).

Taxonomic notes

Synonyms: Ruellia caroliniensis (J.F. Gmelin) Steudel ssp. ciliosa (Pursh) R.W. Long var. cinerascens (Fernald) Kartesz & Gandhi; R. caroliniensis ssp. ciliosa var. ciliosa; R. ciliosa var. cinerascens Fernald; R. ciliosa var. typica

Description

"Perennial herbs. Leaves opposite, acute or obtuse, entire or undulate, base cuneate to attenuate, sessile or petiolate. Flowers in dense glomerules or in open cymes. Calyx tube short, lobes 5, elongate; corolla blue or rarely pink, funnel form, with tube, open throat, and 5 subequal lobes; stamens 4, included, anther locules parallel; stigmas 2-cleft. Capsules brown or yellow brown, compressed, ellipsoid-obovoid; seeds several, brown or gray." - Radford et al 1964

"Dwarf, pubescent perennial 0.5-1.5 dm tall, with a basal rosette. Leaves spatulate, obovate, or oblanceolate, to 7 cm long and 3 cm wide, pubescent, sessile or subsessile. Flowers in dense, sessile or subsessile, axillary glomerules. Calyx lobes hirsute, linear-setaceous, 15-30 mm long; corolla 3-4 cm long, tube longer than throat, lobes to 2 cm long. Capsules glabrous, 12-18 mm long, 5-6 mm broad; seeds gray, 3-4 mm long." - Radford et al 1964

Distribution

It is found in sandhills of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina (Nelson 2006).

Ecology

Habitat

In the Coastal Plain in Florida, it can be found in recently burned longleaf pine wiregrass woods, longleaf pine sandhills, burned longleaf pine ridges, open woodlands, turkey-oak-pinelands, scrub oak barrens, pine savannas, annually burned savannas and annually burned hardwoods (FSU Herbarium). It can also be found along roadsides, disturbed turkey oak-pinewoods, and pine-hardwood clearings. It grows in sandy loam and sandy soil (FSU Herbarium). Associated species include Sporobolus junceus, turkey oak and bluejack oaks (FSU Herbarium).

Phenology

It flowers March through September (FSU Herbarium).

It blooms from May through September and in response to fire (see below) (Nelson 2006).

Kevin Robertson has observed this species flower within three months of burning. KMR

Fire ecology

It flowers within two months of burning in early summer (KMR). Ruellia ciliosa responds rapidly to fire and may be seen as one of the more common plants in longleaf pine native ground cover after a prescribed burn. Within a few weeks or so, Ruellia ciliosa, produces new leaves and flowers profusely but temporary (Nelson 2006,KMR). It was also observed to flower in areas raked and cleared of litter other vegetation in a longleaf pine-wiregrass site which otherwise had not burned for several years, suggesting that it germinates and flowers in response to to light (KMR).

References and notes

Robertson, Kevin M. 2014. Personal observation made at Pebble Hill Plantation, Grady County, Georgia.

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: July 2015. Collectors: Loran C. Anderson, A.B. Seymour, A.E. Radford, Sidney McDaniel, R. F. Thorne, R. A. Davidson, Robert Kral, Robert K. Godfrey, Gary R. Knight, Bill & Pam Anderson, Ann F. Johnson, Roy Komarek. States and Counties: Alabama: Baldwin. Florida: Bay, Gadsden, Jackson, Levy, Liberty, Monroe, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Wakulla, Washington. Georgia: Grady, Thomas. Mississippi: Jackson. South Carolina: Sumter. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.

Nelson, Gil. Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers: A Field Guide to the Wildflowers of the Coastal Regions of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Northeastern Florida. Guilford, CT: FalconGuide, 2006. 36. Print.

Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 973. Print.