Ruellia ciliatiflora Hook. PHENOLOGY.— Flowering: February–November; fruiting: March–November. DISTRIBUTION.— USA (Ariz., Tex.), Mexico (B.C.S., Camp., Chih., Chis., Coah., Col., Dur., Hgo., Mor., N.L., Oax., Pue., Qro., Q.R., S.L.P., Sin., Son., Tab., Tamps., Ver., Yuc.), West Indies, Central America, South America. HABITAT.— Thornscrub, tropical subdeciduous forest, moist forest, disturbed sites, often on limestone. ELEVATION.— 8–1750 meters. NOTES.— Daniel (1995) and Daniel and Acosta C. (2003) provided descriptions of this morphologically variable species under the widely used name, R. nudiflora (Engelm. & A. Gray) Urb. Flowers are usually blue-purple (Fig. 5B), but occasionally white-flowered individuals occur. Numerous names have been applied to variants of this species from Tamaulipas and elsewhere, including: R. davisiorum Tharp & F.A. Barkley, R. nudiflora, R. occidentalis (A. Gray) Tharp & F.A. Barkley, R. occidentalis var. lundelliorum Tharp & F.A. Barkley (the type, Lundell & Lundell 7281, is from Tamaulipas), R. runyonii Tharp & F.A. Barkley, and R. yucatana (Leonard) Tharp & Barkley. Daniel (1995, 2013a) provided a partial listing of and discussions about names treated as synonymous with R. ciliatiflora. REPRESENTATIVE SPECIMENS.— Sierra de San Carlos, vic. of San Miguel, La Tamaulipeca, H. Bartlett 10637 (DS, US); 26.2 mi S of Nuevo Laredo on Mex. Hwy. 85, C. Broome 321 (USFimage); Mpio. Jaumave, 1 km SE de Los Nogales, 23°25ʹ57ʺN, 099°15ʹ50.9”, P. Carillo-Reyes & E. Piedra 5701 (CAS); Mpio. Aldama, Sierra de Tamaulipas, lower slopes of Cerro El Platero above Rancho El Platero, 0.5 mi S of Ejido El Higuerón, ca. 23°20ʹN, 098°10ʹW, T. Daniel 261 (MICH, CAS); 1.4 mi E of Hwy. 101 in Jiménez, ca. 24°11ʹN, 98°29ʹW, T. Daniel 792 (CAS); along Hwy. 101 S of Cd. Victoria, 1.3 mi S of bridge over Río San Marcos, T. Daniel & M. Baker 3689 (CAS); along Hwy. 101, 3.3 mi NNE of Jaumave, ca. 0.5 mi NNE of Tropic of Cancer, T. Daniel & M. Baker 3694 (CAS); along Hwy. 85 SSE of Cd. Victoria, 5.5 mi NNW of turn to San Francisco, T. Daniel & M. Baker 3702 (ASU, CAS); Río de Soto la Marina, J. Franks & T. Filer 637 (ASU); near El Limón, ca. 73 mi S of Cd. Victoria on Pan American Hwy., T. Frye & E. Frye 2663 (DS, US); Mpio. Victoria, 5 km S de la entrada al Cañón del Novillo, carr. Victoria – Altas Cumbres, L. García-Morales 1351 (ITCV); Mpio. Victoria, 2 km N de Santuario del Caminero, carr. Victoria – Altas Cumbres, L. García-Morales 1485 (ITCV); Mpio. Victoria, Cañón del Novillo, L. García-Morales 2140 (ITCV); Mpio. Victoria, Bosque Urbano, S de Ciudad Victoria, L. García-Morales 2184 (ITCV); Mpio. Gómez Farías, La Bocatoma, L. García-Morales s.n. (ITCV); Mpio. Villagrán, Rancho 3 de Marzo, L. García-Morales s.n. (ITCV); ca. 27 (air) km WNW of Jaumave, 25–35 km SW of Miquihuana on rd. to Hwy. 70, ca. 23°22ʹN, 099°36ʹW, Henrickson & Hess 19258 (MEXU-image); ca. 13 mi S of Cd. Victoria, C. Hitchcock & S. Stanford 6884 (DS); Mpio. Hidalgo, El Mirador, Hinton et al. 24641 (MEXU-image); Galeana Canyon, C. Lundell & A. Lundell 7281 (holotype: US-image; isotypes: SMU, US); Sierra Madre Oriental, Jardín Botánico del Noreste, ladera E de Sierra Gorda, W de Cd. Victoria, A. McDonald 1029 (UAT); Mpio. Soto la Marina, Rancho de R. Dragustinovis, 23°53ʹ38ʺN, 097°48ʹ36ʺW, E. Martínez & A. Ibarra 40323 (MEXU-image); Mpio. San Carlos, 6 km E del Ejido El Gavilán, en la brecha hacia San Miguel, 24°41ʹN, 099°02ʹW, Martínez & Martínez 2395 (MEXU-image); N of Los Rayones on Mex. 101, ca. 0.5 km N of the Soto la Marina cutoff (Mex 80), 24°28ʹ10ʺN, 098°20ʹ27ʺW, Mayfield et al. 773 (MEXU-image); San Fernando to Jiménez, E. Nelson 6005 (US); vic. of Tampico, E. Palmer 172 (K, US); along Rte. 101, 12 mi SW of Jaumave, D. Pinkava et al. 9683 (ASU); 10 km E of Cd. Victoria, R.F. 70, H. Puig 3386 (P); Mpio. Villagrán, Rancho Vista Hermosa en Garza Valdés, A. Rodríguez 783 (MEXU-image); San Fernando, J. Rose & P. Russell 24319 (US); Mpio. Cd. Victoria, Col. Enrique Cárdenas González, 23°44ʹ04ʺN, 099°09ʹ55ʺW, J. Sifuentes 26 (UAT); 9 km E of Palmillas, 23°32ʹN, 99°27ʹW, L. Stanford et al. 945 (DS); 4 mi S of Jaumave, L. Stanford et al. 2304 (DS, CAS); Sierra Madre Oriental, 9 mi S of Cd. Victoria on rd. to Palmillas, G. Starr cv s.n. (CAS); camp on Gilbert Hernández Rancho on rd. to Gómez Farías, S. Trott et al. 306 (MEXUimage); Mpio. Gómez Farías, 2 km E de Gómez Farías, A. Valiente B. & J. Viveros S. 217 (MEXU, US); 6 mi SW of Cd. Victoria, 23°42ʹN, 099°11ʹW, G. Webster & S. Armbruster 21398 (MEXUimage); Sierra Madre Oriental, 9.9 rd. mi SW of Cd. Victoria, 5.1 rd. mi NE of Alta Cumbre, R. Worthington 8429 (CAS); 17.2 rd. mi NE of Tula, 2 rd. mi NE of La Presita, 25.2 rd. mi SW of Jaumave, R. Worthington 8475 (CAS).

Published as part of Daniel, Thomas F., García-Morales, Leccinum J. & Mora-Olivo, Arturo, 2021, Taxonomic and Photographic Guide to the Acanthaceae of Tamaulipas, Mexico, pp. 185-228 in Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 67 (6) on page 214, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.11513051