Desert Petunia - Ruellia simplex

Common Name :	Desert Petunia, Mexican Petunia.
Botanical Name :	Ruellia simplex
Synonym :	Ruellia brittoniana
Family :	Acanthaceae
Photo Taken :	Bangladesh

Our today's flowering plant is the Desert Petunia with having plenty of common names such as Mexican petunia, Britton's wild petunia, Mexican bluebell, etc. This plant is native to South America, Mexico, and Caribbean region. Botanical name of the flowering plant is Ruellia simplex and belongs to the plant family Acanthaceae.

Desert Petunia (Ruellia simplex) is a shrubby (or perennial herb) plant but in some region it may look as an annual plant. A plant can grow up to 3 feet in height. The leafs of the plant are liner and very long. Stem of the plant is semi woody and leafs are oppositely arranged. Dark green leafs are having visible liner veins.

Flowers of Desert Petunia (Ruellia simplex) are very attractive as they are having a shape of bell (or trumpet). Color can be varies of the flower such as white, purple, pink, etc. Tubular trumpet shaped flowers are having five petals. Flower buds use to appear as a cluster but starts to bloom one by one. During the blooming season the plant brings plenty of showy flowers.

Although this plant is being used as an ornamental plant in many places. But in some part of the world this is an invasive weed (i.e. in Florida) as it is a very fast grower.

Photos of Desert Petunia (Ruellia simplex) were taken from Bangladesh as below:
1. June 2015: Gulshan, Dhaka.


This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icflora.blogspot.com/