Here’s my best advice: good luck with this one.

Ruellia nudiflora epitomizes a true species complex that, as colleague Tom Daniel once said to me, “I wouldn’t even wish it on a PhD student.”

This “species” occurs from the southern USA into Central America and seems especially happy in subtropical Mexico. It’s variable, it’s widespread, it would love for you to study it.

Wild collected, Mexico, Tripp & Dexter #162 (DUKE); Photo by Erin Tripp