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Ruellia strepens
Also called Smooth Ruellia, Smooth Wild Petunia
Limestone wild petunia is a native North American perennial herb with lavender-blue tubular flowers, grown in the garden for shade and moist woodland conditions. Its key to success is consistently moist, partly shaded soil.
Ruellia strepens, commonly known as limestone wild petunia, limestone ruellia, smooth wild petunia, or wild petunia is a species of flowering plant in the family Acanthaceae, native to warmer parts of the central and eastern United States. A perennial herb, it prefers to grow in moist to mesic, partly shady areas such as streamsides and bottomland forests. In the garden it is hardy to USDA zone 5, and can tolerate nearly full shade.
R. strepena is native in the United States from Nebraska to the west, Texas and Florida to the south, Michigan and Pennsylvania to the north, and the east coast to the east. It is listed as endangered in Michigan and North Carolina and critically imperiled in South Carolina. It lives in bottomland forests, rich upland forests, river and stream banks, and edges of ponds and lakes. It can also be found occasionally in bottomland prairies and fens, pastures, moist roadsides, and railroads.
Ruellia affinis · Ruellia asperula · Browne's Blechum · Tropical wild petunia · Brazilian wild petunia · Brazilian Petunia · Fringeleaf wild petunia · Monkey Plant · Softseed Wild Petunia · Minnieroot · Wild petunia
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ruellia strepens by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
