194 



Descriptive Flora 



oblong, 2-celled, 2-seeded, y 2 or less long. April to June. 

 Growing in the open. 



Ruellia occidentalis Gray. Wild Petunia. 



Plants 1 to 2 feet tall, with showy blue flowers resembling 

 cultivated single petunias. The few branches are weak, often 

 reclining for half of their length on the ground. Leaves simple, 

 opposite. Blades oblong to ovate, 1 to 4 inches long, wavy mar- 

 gined. Upper blades sessile, the lower with margined petioles. 

 Flowers large, showy, purple or bluish-purple (some-times 

 white), trumpet-shaped, about V/ 2 " long. Calyx 5-cleft with 

 long, slender lobes. Stamens 4, 2 longer than the other 2. Pod 

 narrow, oblong, containing 9 to 12 seeds. Blossoms from spring 

 to fall. Roadsides, pastures and waste places. Easily dis- 

 tinguished from the following species by the presence of viscid 

 hairs on the calyx and inflorescence. 



Ruellia drummondiiana (Nees) A. Gray. Wild Petunia. 



Plants similar to the above species but having longer leaf 

 blades (2 to 5" long), and a shorter corolla (1 to l 1 /^" long). 

 Fruit a 2-celled erect pod, narrowed at both ends and containing 

 2 flattened seeds in each. Eoots thickened, fibrous, spreading. 

 Inflorescence and calyx not sticky with glandular hairs. Not 

 common. 



Diapedium brachiatum (Pursh) Kuntze. 



Plants with grooved stems, opposite leaves and strongly 2- 

 lipped, bright phlox purple, axillary flowers. Leaves simple, 

 alternate. Blades ovate to oblong-ovate, % to 4 inches long, 

 entire or wavy-margined. Leaf stalks shorter than the blades. 

 Corolla 2-lipped, y 2 to long, the upper and lower lips equal 

 in length and similar, only the upper lip is slightly twisted at the 

 base and has a darker purple pattern on the lower half. Stamens 

 2. Calyx very small, 5-toothed and hidden by the two small, 

 round or square-tipped, leaflike bracts, which fold together and 

 by a careless observer are mistaken for the calyx proper. Late 

 summer and fall. In dry but usually shaded soil. 



