Natural History: A perennial tuberous herb found on disturbed habitats (WFO, 2022). Its native range is from Caribbean and central America, naturalized in India. Blue flowers bloom during rainy season (Flowers of India, 2022).
References:
Nitin, R., V. C. Balakrishnan, P. V. Churi, S. Kalesh, S. Prakash, and K. Kunte. 2018. Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 10:11495–11550. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3104.10.4.11495-11550.
WFO (2022): World Flora Online. Accessed on 21 Dec 2022. URL: http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000401309.
Flowers of India (2022). Accessed on 21 Dec 2022. URL: http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Minnie%20Root.html.
Kawthankar, N. 2024. Ruellia tuberosa L. – Minnie Root. In Kunte, K., S. Sondhi, and P. Roy (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 4.12. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/ruellia-tuberosa, accessed 2024/10/04.