Ruttya fruticosa Lindau, Acanthaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 2 (Go to the risk assessment)

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "This evergreen shrub to 4 m tall has terminal inflorescences, with flowers in a short, cone-like spike, subtended by small linear bracts. The fiveparted, 6 mm long calyx has narrow lobes. The broadly tubular bright-yellow, orange-red or scarlet corolla to 7 cm long is two-lipped. The upper lip is reflexed and emarginate, consisting of two fused lobes, while the lower lip is tri-lobed with a distinctive irregular dark reddish to brown to black blotch at base of the middle lobe. The fruit is an ellipsoid capsule containing four seeds"  (Tri-Ology).

Habitat/ecology:  (no habitat/ecology info known by PIER)

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Tropical east Africa  (Tri-Ology).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (year unknown) (voucher ID: BISH 9990) Taxon name on voucher: Ruttya fruticosa Lindau

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 76) Cultivated only

Additional information:
Additional online information about Ruttya fruticosa is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Ruttya fruticosa as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Ruttya fruticosa may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 0. Voucher specimen #BISH9990(Hutchison, P.C. 2792).

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 0. Voucher specimen #BISH9990(Hutchison, P.C. 2792).

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.