Browne's Blechum
Ruellia blechum
Found in suburban woodlands, disturbed areas, escaped from horticultural use. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Florida edition What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 18%
- Light
- Up to 6 hours of direct sun
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
Do not plant. Listed invasive in Florida.
At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 32 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
11CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Ruellia
- Junonia coeniaCommon Buckeye
- Anartia jatrophaeWhite Peacock
- Anthanassa frisiaCuban Crescent
- Anthanassa texanaTexan Crescent
- Junonia neildiMangrove Buckeye
- Junonia zonalisCaribbean Buckeye, Tropical Buckeye, Florida Buckeye, Smoky Buckeye
- Siproeta stelenesMalachite
- Tripudia paraplesiaX
- Tripudia rectangulaWild Petunia Seed Moth, Rectangular Tripudia
- Hileithia aplicalis
Show all 11
- Hileithia differentialis
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimPlant details
- Family
- Acanthaceae
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- Florida Invasive Species Council list
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Florida edition
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications