We all know that haughtyi would have been the much better spelling for this epithet that is presumptuous enough to mimic Ruellia blechum, but… we weren’t so lucky.

We have not seen your pollen, nor your DNA, but in Tripp et al. 2009 (TAXON), we combined you into Ruellia anyway. SORRY! Or not. It might turn out to be a more comfortable house, anyway.

Ruellia haughtii is a species very similar to R. costaricense but the leaves of the former are more distinctly serrate and the bracts are apically acuminate. Nonetheless, neither species is known from much herbarium material and as such, more field studies with new collections are needed.

The type collection of R. haughtii is from the Turbo area in Antioquia, Colombia. In January 2015, we found and collected it along the beautiful coastal highway between Arboletes (sigh) and Zapata, along both sides of a mowed road. Shortly before the best piña colada of my life.

Wild collected, Colombia, Tripp et al. #5182 (COLO); photo by Grant Godden