Ruellia Simplex (Blanco)

Note from the Photographer

The Mexican Petunia (Ruellia simplex) is one of the most prolific flowering plants in warm climates, producing a fresh succession of trumpet shaped blooms nearly every single day from spring through fall. Despite the name, it is not a true petunia at all. It belongs to the Acanthaceae family and was named after Jean de la Ruelle, a 16th century French herbalist and physician to King Francois I. Each individual flower lives for only one single day, opening at dawn and wilting by evening, a fleeting beauty that most people walk past without ever noticing. Native to Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America, it has become deeply naturalized throughout Hawaii, Texas, and the southeastern United States, found everywhere from drainage ditches to manicured garden beds. At extreme macro range, the petal reveals a structure invisible to the naked eye, a delicate cellular topography of ridges, veins, and folds that completely transforms a familiar roadside flower into something otherworldly.