I am quite fond of this plant. I love the stark white flowers against its lime green vegetation. I love the tropical sub-deciduous forests it grows in. And I love the fritillary butterflies that pollinate it. If I were a painter, I’d paint it. And maybe that painting would turn out better than this old school photograph, which was taken in early grad school days… 2004 ish… with FILM! I first saw it in the cellulose while doing fieldwork with Linda, the mom…

Ruellia foetida is (not that odiferous, despite the name, but) closely related to R. amonea (see that page) and begging for further field study…

Wild collected, Mexico, Tripp, Kiel, & Hasenstab-Lehman #1213 (RSA-POM); Photo by Erin Tripp. Also seen and collected on an earlier trip with L. Tripp, the mom.