PlantFiles: Monkey Plant
Ruellia makoyana

Almost never used as a small scale groundcover but i have found it has hardiness making it through last winters 30f freeze unscathed. No resistance to slugs or snails.As tropical looking as can be. Should make a neat groundcover for palms in shade, or tree ferns.

This plant can be great for those who occasionally neglect their plants. It can be pretty much defoliated and come right back from the torture, though it will likely be leggy afterward. Easy to propagate if you want more or want a fuller plant. Long-lived and easy to bring into flower. Mine tends to flower as soon as we start getting 12 hours of daylight and stay in flower till winter.

This is a fine basket plant for warm rooms with a medium-to-bright exposure; full sun can be detrimental. Spreading habit, with fittonia-like, discolor leaves. Blooms intermittently, with cute magenta flowers. Like many Acanthacae, should be pinched yearly to encourage bushy growth, otherwise they become very spindly with age. Should be more popular.

This plant is previously listed in this database as Ruellia makoyana.