7965.000 Ruellia L.

Perennial herbs, erect or prostrate, or shrubs. Leaves simple, opposite, petiolate or sessile; margins entire. Inflorescence axillary or terminal; either solitary or in cymes or panicles; bracts inconspicuous. Flowers often showy in cultivated species, red, yellow, purple or white. Calyx deeply 5-partite; lobes linear or lanceolate. Corolla tube usually straight, with 5 ± equal lobes. Stamens 4, didynamous. Fruit a capsule. Seeds 4-20 flattened, ovate or orbicular on strong retinacula.

Derivation of name: After Jean de la Ruelle, 1474 - 1537, French physician and botanist.

Worldwide: 250 species in tropical and temperate regions.

Zimbabwe: 4 taxa.