Ruellia geminiflora var. angustifolia (Nees) Griseb.
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Authority
Leonard, Emery C. 1951. The Acanthaceae of Colombia, I. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 31: 1-117.
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Family
Acanthaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Description - Herbs up to 40 cm. high; stems subquadrangular, sulcate, densely to sparsely hirsute or glabrescent, the cystoliths inconspicuous leaves sessile or subsessile, linear to narrowly lanceolate, up to 6.5 cm. long and 1.2 cm. wide or occasionally as much as 1.5 cm. wide, acute to obtusish (the tip itself blunt), narrowed at base, both surfaces densely to sparsely hirsute, the costa and lateral nerves (5 to 8 pairs) usually prominent beneath, the cystoliths obscure flowers often opposite, usually terminal at blossoming stage bractlets linear, up to 6.5 mm. long and 0.8 mm. wide, hirsute; calyx lobes linear-lanceolate, about 1.5 cm. long and 1 nun. wide near base, densely hirsute; corolla blue, pink, white, violet, or blue-violet, pubescent, 4.5 to 5 cm. long, the tube funnelform, about 2 cm. broad at throat, the narrow basal portion about 1 cm. long and 2 mm. in diameter, the lobes about 1.5 cm. long; capsule ovoid, 10 mm. long, 5 mm. broad, pubescent, apiculate, the sterile basal portion about 3 mm. long.
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Discussion
In addition to the narrowness of the leaf blades mentioned by Nees, Bremekamp states in his discussion of Dipteracanthus angustifolius that he finds a number of characters by which to separate his species from Humboldt's R. geminiflora, namely, "the stem is erect and not procumbent; the leaves are sessile, not shortly petiolate, at the top acute, not obtuse, and at the base cuneate, not rounded; the number of the nerve pairs varies between 5 and 8, instead of being always 5; bracteoles are present and not even small, instead of being absent; the calyx lobes are 15 mm. long and all of the same size, not posticous, one 10 mm. and the others shorter; the corolla is up to 5 cm. long, instead of 2.5-3.5 cm.; the capsule shortly pubescent, not more or less tomentose." Some of these differences are not very apparent in the Colombian specimens, which, in fact, seem in some respects to verge strongly toward the typical form, i. e. Humboldt's R. geminiflora. Inasmuch as eastern Colombia is at the edge of the range of the var. angustifolia, this could naturally be expected.