Acanthaceae
Ruspolia

Ruspolia seticalyx (C.B.Clarke) Milne-Redh.

First published in Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1936: 270 (1936)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Tanzania to Botswana, Madagascar. It is a subshrub or shrub and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

Flora Zambesiaca Acanthaceae (part 2) by Iain Darbyshire, Kaj Vollesen and Ensermu Kelbessa

Morphology General Habit
Erect (rarely straggling) shrubby herb or shrub to 1.3 m tall; plant drying green; young stems glabrous to puberulous.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves glabrous below to puberulous along midrib and larger veins, glabrous above or with uniformly scattered hairs; petiole ill-defined, to 3 cm long; lamina ovate to elliptic or broadly so, largest 9–23 × 4.5–10.5 cm; apex acute to acuminate with acute to obtuse tip, basal part below middle abruptly narrowed to a long decurrent base.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Cymes (3)5–21 cm long, unbranched, sometimes with lateral cymes from upper leaf axils; lower internodes 1.5–5 cm long, rarely some cymes condensed with almost absent internodes; flowers solitary or in 3–5(7)-flowered cymules towards base of cyme or throughout; axis puberulous or sparsely so, no stalked capitate glands; lower 1–2 bract pairs usually foliaceous, others subulate to narrowly triangular, 3–8 mm long, indumentum as axis; pedicels 0.5–2(4 in fruit) mm long; bracteoles subulate to narrowly triangular, 3–8 mm long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx 5–8 mm long, glabrous or sparsely puberulous apically on lobes, without stalked capitate glands.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corolla orange-red to red or scarlet, with numerous darker spots towards centre, a mixture of long curly non-glandular hairs and stalked capitate glands outside; linear tube 1.7–3.2 cm long; throat 2–3 mm long; lobes 8–13 × 5–8 mm, elliptic, subacute to rounded.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
Filaments c.3 mm long; anthers purple, 1–1.5 mm long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Capsule 2.8–4 cm long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds 9–10 × 7–8 mm, smooth on outer surface, with irregular ridges on inner surface.
Distribution
Also in D.R. Congo, Tanzania and Madagascar.
Ecology
Riverine forest and scrub, shady places in woodland, rocky hills, termite mounds; 200–1200(1500) m.
Conservation
Conservation notes: Widespread; not threatened.
[FZ]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Common Names

English
Red ruspolia

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora Zambesiaca

    • Flora Zambesiaca
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Plants and People Africa

    • Common Names from Plants and People Africa http://www.plantsandpeopleafrica.com/
    • © Plants and People Africa http://www.plantsandpeopleafrica.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/