Acanthaceae
Ruellia

Ruellia simplex C.Wright

First published in Anales Acad. Ci. Méd. Habana 6: 321 (1870)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Mexico to Tropical America. It is a perennial or subshrub and grows primarily in the subtropical biome. It is used as a medicine and has environmental uses.

Distribution

Native to:

Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Bolivia, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Cayman Is., Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Uruguay, Windward Is.

Introduced into:

Alabama, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Cook Is., Florida, Galápagos, Gambia, Georgia, Gulf States, Hawaii, India, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Louisiana, Mississippi, Myanmar, Nepal, Sicilia, Solomon Is., South Carolina, South China Sea, Sumatera, Texas, Venezuela

Synonyms

Heterotypic Synonyms

Classification

Kew's Tree of Life Explorer

Discover the flowering plant tree of life and the genomic data used to build it.

View the Tree of Life
PAFTOL

Publications

POWO follows these authorities in accepting this name:

  • (2020). https://moip-bio.msu.ru/wp-content/uploads/byalt-bulletin-of-moscow-society-of-naturalists-125-6-2020.56-62.pdf. epublication.
  • Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.
  • Arbo, M.M. & al. (2018). Flora Argentina. Flora vascular de la República Argentina 20(1): 1-488. INTA, IMBIV & IBODA.
  • 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.
  • Marchioretto, M.S., Pires da Silva, V.R.S. & Parode, M.F. (2015). A família Acanthaceae Juss. no Rio Grande do Sul. Pesquisas: Botanica 68: 7-82.
  • Murugan, C., Singh, L.J., Prabhu, S. & Sathiyaseelan, R. (2014). The genus Ruellia L. (Acanthaceae) in Andaman and Nicobar islands. Indian Journal of Forestry 37: 425-428.
  • Nurtjahya, E. & al. (2026). Flowering Plants of Bangka Island: Native and Introduced. Acta Botanica Hungarica 68: 127-156.
  • Paña-Chocarro, M.C., Espada-Mateos, C., Vera, M., Céspedes, G. & Knapp, S. (2010). Updated checklist of vascular plants of the Mbaracayú Forest Nature Reserve (Reserva Natural del Bosque Mbaracayú), Paraguay. Phytotaxa 12: 1-224.
  • Rajbhandari, K.R., Rai, S.K. & Chhetri, R. (2022). A Handbook of the Flowering Plants of Nepal 4: 1-522. Department of Plant Resources, Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal.
  • Tanaka, N. & al. (2020). Vascular plants collected from Eastern Provinces, the Solomon islands. Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science, Series B (Botany) 46: 145-175.
  • Villaseñor, J.L. (2016). Checklist of the native vascular plants of Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 87: 559-902.
  • Won, H. & al. (2024). New records of flowering plants for the flora of Laos. Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy 54: 290-298.
  • Zuloaga, F.O., Morrone, O. , Belgrano, M.J., Marticorena, C. & Marchesi, E. (eds.) (2008). Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares del Cono Sur. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 107: 1-3348. Missouri Botanical Garden.

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • (2020). https://moip-bio.msu.ru/wp-content/uploads/byalt-bulletin-of-moscow-society-of-naturalists-125-6-2020.56-62.pdf. epublication.
  • (2023). http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.15.105794. epublication.
  • Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.
  • Brako, L. & Zarucchi, J.L. (1993). Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Gymnosperms of Peru. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 45: i-xl, 1-1286. Missouri Botanical Garden.
  • Daniel, T.F. (2007 publ. 2008). Notes on the distributions of some Mexican Acanthaceae. Ibugana 15: 13-22.
  • GBIF (2008-2020). Global Biodiversity Information Facility http://www.gbif.org/.
  • Girmansyah, D. & al. (eds.) (2013). Flora of Bali an annotated checklist: 1-158. Herbarium Bogorensis, Indonesia.
  • 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.
  • Jaramillo Díaz, P. & Guézou, A. (2017). CDF Checklist of Galapagos Vascular Plants - FCD Lista de especies de Plantas Vasculares de Galápagos http://www.darwinfoundation.org/datazone/checklists/vascular-plants/.
  • Kotiya, A., Solanki, Y. & Reddy, G.V. (2020). Flora of Rajasthan: 1-769. Rajasthan state biodiversity board.
  • Kral, R., Diamond, A.R., Ginzbarg, S.L., Hansen, C.J., Haynes, R.R., Keener, B.R., Lelong, M.G., Spaulding, D.D. & Woods, M. (2011). Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Alabama: 1-112. Botanical reseach institute of Texas.
  • Marchioretto, M.S., Pires da Silva, V.R.S. & Parode, M.F. (2015). A família Acanthaceae Juss. no Rio Grande do Sul. Pesquisas: Botanica 68: 7-82.
  • Murugan, C., Singh, L.J., Prabhu, S. & Sathiyaseelan, R. (2014). The genus Ruellia L. (Acanthaceae) in Andaman and Nicobar islands. Indian Journal of Forestry 37: 425-428.
  • Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
  • Ningombam, D.S. (2014). The family Acanthaceae for the flora of Manipur: 1-115. LAP Lambert academic publishing.
  • Nurtjahya, E. & al. (2026). Flowering Plants of Bangka Island: Native and Introduced. Acta Botanica Hungarica 68: 127-156.
  • Pasha, M.K. & Uddin, S.B. (2013). Dictionary of plant names of Bangladesh, Vasc. Pl.: 1-434. Janokalyan Prokashani, Chittagong, Bangladesh.
  • Paña-Chocarro, M.C., Espada-Mateos, C., Vera, M., Céspedes, G. & Knapp, S. (2010). Updated checklist of vascular plants of the Mbaracayú Forest Nature Reserve (Reserva Natural del Bosque Mbaracayú), Paraguay. Phytotaxa 12: 1-224.
  • Rajbhandari, K.R., Rai, S.K. & Chhetri, R. (2022). A Handbook of the Flowering Plants of Nepal 4: 1-522. Department of Plant Resources, Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal.
  • Sykes, W.R. (2016). Flora of the Cook Islands: 1-973. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawaii.
  • Tanaka, N. & al. (2020). Vascular plants collected from Eastern Provinces, the Solomon islands. Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science, Series B (Botany) 46: 145-175.
  • USDA, NRCS ( 2021-continuously updated). Natural Resources Conservation Services Plant Database http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/topics.cgi?earl=checklist.html.
  • Villaseñor, J.L. (2016). Checklist of the native vascular plants of Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 87: 559-902.
  • 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.
  • Won, H. & al. (2024). New records of flowering plants for the flora of Laos. Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy 54: 290-298.
  • Zuloaga, F.O., Morrone, O. , Belgrano, M.J., Marticorena, C. & Marchesi, E. (eds.) (2008). Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares del Cono Sur. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 107: 1-3348. Missouri Botanical Garden.

Kew Plants for Health

  • "World Checklist of Useful Pl. Spp. (Diazgranados et al., 2020)"
  • MPNS Import
  • 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.
  • GBIF.org (2021). GBIF species matching tool. https://www.gbif.org/tools/species-lookup
  • GRIN (2021). Germplasm Resources Information Network from the United States Department of Agriculture. https://www.ars-grin.gov/
  • 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

  • Flora of the Cayman Islands

    • Flora of the Cayman Islands
    • 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

  • 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