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Ruellia macrantha; photograph (c) Nicolas Olejnik, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Nicolas Olejnik, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2025-06-08

Ruellia macrantha (Nees) Van Houtte

Acanthaceae · Brazil West-Central, Brazil Southeast +1 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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Ruellia macrantha, photograph (c) Walker Scott, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ruellia macrantha, photograph (c) Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ruellia macrantha, photograph (c) Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ruellia macrantha, photograph (c) Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ruellia macrantha, photograph Cymothoa exigua, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRuellia macrantha, photograph Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 17 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
7.3°C
Record low 2.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
Jan and Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,885mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
24–37DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to September (November to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Ruellia macrantha, or Christmas pride, is a species of flowering plant native to the cerrado vegetation of Brazil. It is often used as an ornamental plant. This plant is cited in Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Ruellia macrantha", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Ruellia

Ruellia is a genus of flowering plants commonly known as ruellias or wild petunias. They are not closely related to petunias (Petunia) although both genera belong to the same euasterid clade. The genus was named in honor of Jean Ruelle (1474–1537), herbalist and physician to Francis I of France and translator of several works of Dioscorides.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Ruellia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Ruellia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “shrub”, “wet tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,469 mm of 1,850 mm) falls in November to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.5 °C against a yearly mean of 19.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to September.

Rain

1,850 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,469 mm of it November to March. Wettest month December at 397 mm, driest month July at 11 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,505 mm to 2,169 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,885 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,850 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 7.3 °C, the absolute minimum 2.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 10.9 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 9.5 °C to 12.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.1 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 7.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +26 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Ruellia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “shrub”, “wet tropical”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Ruellia macrantha through the yearWarmest months January and February, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 10.9 °C; 1,850 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°34.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER2.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 24–37RH 60–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 19 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 24–2726 / 25–2825 / 24–2724 / 22–2622 / 21–2421 / 20–2321 / 20–2322 / 21–2524 / 23–2624 / 23–2725 / 23–2625 / 23–26
Night °C18 / 16–1918 / 16–1917 / 16–1916 / 15–1713 / 12–1511 / 10–1311 / 10–1312 / 11–1314 / 13–1516 / 14–1717 / 15–1817 / 16–19
Rain mm358 / 288–407199 / 171–270225 / 180–28379 / 59–9742 / 32–5519 / 15–2511 / 9–1920 / 16–2570 / 50–84140 / 114–176290 / 197–334397 / 308–482
DLI34 / 33–3737 / 36–4032 / 31–3429 / 28–3126 / 24–2724 / 23–2626 / 23–2730 / 28–3232 / 29–3534 / 32–3833 / 32–3632 / 31–34
RH %66 / 63–6865 / 61–6667 / 63–6866 / 62–6764 / 60–6563 / 59–6361 / 57–6260 / 56–6161 / 57–6264 / 60–6567 / 62–6868 / 64–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 19 grid cells holding the 25 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2204:2723 (-20.225, -43.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 2.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 19 distinct grid cells holding 25 of the 25 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2204:2723 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -20.00_-43.750, lapse-corrected +26 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1026 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBrazil West-Central, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-20.155, -43.515 · in the densest population, 49 records (73% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 67 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 25 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 47 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 19 km away. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 42 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 7678622 (Ruellia macrantha (Nees) Gower): Kew's file holds it as Ruellia macrantha (Nees) Van Houtte (accepted); 17 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 67 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Ruellia macrantha, photograph 1did not loadRuellia macrantha, photograph 2did not loadRuellia macrantha, photograph 3did not loadRuellia macrantha, photograph 4did not loadRuellia macrantha, photograph 5did not loadRuellia macrantha, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Walker Scott, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); Cymothoa exigua, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Cattleya crispata Cattleya crispata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Issao ShinobeBrunfelsia brasiliensis Brunfelsia brasiliensis Solanaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, *Spatz* at de.wikipediaDrosera montana Drosera montana Droseraceae Photo: CC BY, Denis ZabinAdiantum subcordatum Adiantum subcordatum Pteridaceae Photo: CC BY, Gabriel Jovêncio Ribeiro Sinningia rupicola Gesneriaceae Drosera lutescens Drosera lutescens Droseraceae Photo: CC BY, Yoannis Domínguez

Other Ruellia 37 in the reference

Ruellia affinis Ruellia affinis Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, B. PhalanRuellia angustiflora Ruellia angustiflora Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, William Stephens Ruellia angustifolia Acanthaceae Ruellia blechum Ruellia blechum Browne's blechum Photo: CC BY, Guillaume Delaitre Ruellia blumei Acanthaceae Ruellia bourgaei Ruellia bourgaei Acanthaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedRuellia breedlovei Ruellia breedlovei Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialRuellia brevifolia Ruellia brevifolia Tropical wild petunia Photo: CC BY, Zoe Anthony QuestedRuellia californica Ruellia californica Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, DrepanostomaRuellia caroliniensis Ruellia caroliniensis Carolina wild petunia Photo: CC BY, portulacaRuellia chartacea Ruellia chartacea Peruvian wild petunia Photo: CC BY, Yuri SofronovRuellia ciliatiflora Ruellia ciliatiflora Hairyflower wild petunia Photo: CC BY, Reanne ("Bean") Dunn all 38 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Bignonia elliptica; Dipteracanthus macranthus; Dipteracanthus speciosus; Ruellia magnifica; Ruellia speciosa. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Acanthaceae
Described by
(Nees) Van Houtte
Native to
Brazil West-Central, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North
Wild records
67 in range · 47 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 17 records of GBIF's key 7678622, Ruellia macrantha (Nees) Gower (Kew's file holds it as Ruellia macrantha (Nees) Van Houtte (accepted)): GBIF occurrence search API; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -20.00_-43.750, lapse-corrected +26 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 60454954-2 is Kew's for Ruellia macrantha (Nees) Van Houtte
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 25 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…