Ruspolia

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Lamiids
Ordo: Lamiales

Familia: Acanthaceae
Subfamilia: Acanthoideae
Tribus: Justicieae
Genus: Ruspolia
Species: R. australis – R. decurrens – R. humbertii – R. hypocrateriformis – R. seticalyx
Source(s) of checklist:

Hassler, M. 2018. Ruspolia (Acanthaceae). World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2018. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2018 Jun. 17. Reference page.

Name

Ruspolia Lindau, 1895

Type species: Ruspolia pseuderanthemoides Lindau.

References

Lindau, G., Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien 4(3b): 354. 1895.

Links

Hassler, M. 2018. Ruspolia (Acanthaceae). World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2018. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2018 Jun. 17. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2018. Ruspolia (Acanthaceae). Published online. Accessed: Jun. 17 2018.
The Plant List 2013. Ruspolia (Acanthaceae) in The Plant List Version 1.1. Published online. Accessed: 2018 Jun. 17.
Tropicos.org 2018. Ruspolia (Acanthaceae). Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 17 Jun. 2018.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 2019. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset. Taxon: Ruspolia (Acanthaceae). .

Ruspolia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Acanthaceae.[1]

Description

A genus of shrubby herbs or shrubs.[2][3][4] The leaves are arranged opposite,[3][5] they have visible linear cystoliths.[2] The flowers are in spikes or panicles,[3] or in 3-7-flowered,[5] cymules aggregated into long raceme-like cymes.[2] The flower has bracts and bracteoles (small bracts) that are narrow and inconspicuous.[3] The flower calyx is deeply 5-lobed,[2][3][4] with narrow,[3] or linear-lanceolate or filiform (thread-like) shaped lobes.[2] Sometimes with thread-like tips.[3] The corolla-tube is narrowly cylindrical,[3] and long and linear.[2][4] it is divided into 5 subequal lobes,[3] which are spreading or reflexed.[2] The corolla (petals of the flower) are usually red, but may be salmon-pink, scarlet or orange-red. They are also hairy and sometimes glandular, on the outside.[2] It has 2 stamens which are just exserted (projected beyond the corolla-tube).[2][3] They have anthers which are 1-celled. The ovary is 2-celled with 2 ovules in each cell or loculus.[2][3] Meaning it has 2-4-seeds. It has a filiform (thread-like) shaped style.[3] The fruit or seed capsule is club-shaped,[3] with solid stalk-like basal part.[2] Inside the capsule, the seeds are smooth and glabrous or variously ornamented.[3] They are situated on prominent hook-shaped retinaculas (thick fibres), without hygroscopic hairs.[2]

It has a chromosome count of 2n=21 [6]
Distribution and habitat

Its native range is Tropical Africa, southern Africa and Madagascar. It is found in Angola, Botswana,[2] Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa (in KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Provinces) Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zaïre and Zimbabwe.[1]
Habitat

Lowland and medium altitude woodland, bushland and dry forests.[7]
Taxonomy

The genus name of Ruspolia is in honour of Eugenio Ruspoli (1866–1893), an Italian explorer and naturalist.[8] It was first described and published in H.G.A.Engler & K.A.E.Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. Vol.4 (Issue 3b) on page 354 in 1895.[1] The genus was recognized on 23 January 2009, by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Service, but they do not list any known species.[9]
Known species

According to Kew:[1]

Ruspolia australis (Milne-Redh.) Vollesen
Ruspolia decurrens (Hochst. ex Nees) Milne-Redh.
Ruspolia hypocrateriformis (Vahl) Milne-Redh.
Ruspolia seticalyx (C.B.Clarke) Milne-Redh.

GRIN accepts just Ruspolia hypocrateriformis (Vahl) Milne-Redh. and Ruspolia seticalyx (C. B. Clarke) Milne-Redh..[9] Other sources claim that there are up to 6 species[6] Flora of Zimbabwe notes 5 species in Africa and Madagascar, (3 within Zimbabwe: Ruspolia australis, Ruspolia decurrens and Ruspolia seticalyx).[10]

Ruspolia hypocrateriformis (or 'Red Ruspolia'), is used as a garden shrub in South Africa and Namibia.[11]
References

"Ruspolia Lindau | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
"Flora of Botswana: Genus page: Ruspolia". www.botswanaflora.com. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
"RUSPOLIA Lindau [family ACANTHACEAE] on JSTOR (Flora Somalia)". plants.jstor.org. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
Sima Eliovson Flowering Shrubs, Trees and Climbers for Southern Africa (1965), p. 175, at Google Books
"Ruspolia (Ruspolia spp.) - Plants | Candide Gardening". Candide. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
Claudia Muniain and Angel Valdés Rostanga Byga Er. Marcus, 1958 from Argentina: Redescription and Comparison to Rostanga Pulchra MacFarland, 1905 (Mollusca, Nudibranchia, Doridina), p. 152, at Google Books
Ib Friis and Kaj Vollesen Flora of the Sudan-Uganda Border Area East of the Nile: Catalogue of Vascular Plants (2005), p. 454, at Google Books
Burkhardt, Lotte (2018). Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition [Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition] (pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2018. ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
"Genus Ruspolia Lindau". npgsweb.ars-grin.gov. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
"Flora of Zimbabwe: Genus page: Ruspolia". www.zimbabweflora.co.zw. Retrieved 2 December 2021.

Ernst van Jaarsveld Waterwise Gardening in South Africa and Namibia (2013), p. 223, at Google Books

Other sources

Daniel Oliver, Flora of Tropical Africa, Volume 5, L. Reeve and Company, 1900