Rulingia
(dedicated to John Philip Ruling, who wrote, in 1766, an essay on the Natural Orders of Plants). ORD. Sterculiaceae. A genus comprising fifteen species of greenhouse, stellate-tomentose shrubs or under-shrubs; one is a native of Madagascar, and the rest are Australian. Flowers usually white, small, cymose; calyx five-fid; petals five, broadly concave at base, ligulate above; stamens shortly connate at base; cymes axillary or opposite the leaves, rarely terminal. Leaves entire, toothed, or lobed. The species have no great beauty, the flowers not exceeding 1/4in. in diameter. Those described below are from Australia, and thrive in a compost of loam, peat, and sand. Ripened cuttings will root in either sand or soil, if covered with a bell glass. R. corylifolia (Corylus-leaved). fl. in dense sessile cymes, forming dense, terminal, leafy corymbs. April. l. broadly ovate, 2in. to 3in. long, irregularly toothed or broadly lobed, wrinkled, green and roughly pubescent above, more densely tomentose-villous or pubescent beneath. h. 2ft. 1824. (B. M. 3182.) R. hermanniaefolia (Hermannia-leaved). fl. in shortly pedunculate cymes. April. l. usually narrow-oblong, 1/4in. long, in luxuriant specimens often ovate-lanceolate, or with short, broad basal lobes, always obtuse, crenate, much wrinkled, white tomentose beneath. h. 2ft. or more. 1818. (L. B. C. 1564, under name of Lasiopetalum dumosum.) R. pannosa (cloth-leaved). fl., cymes shortly pedunculate. April. l., mature ones shortly petiolate, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, 2in. to 3in. or more long, toothed, rounded or cordate at base, scabrous-pubescent above, with impressed veins, densely velvety or hirsute beneath; on young plants they are often broader and thee to five-lobed. h. 2ft. 1819. (B. M. 2191; A. B. R. 603, under name of Commersonia dasyphylla.) R. parviflora (small-flowered). fl. small; cymes shortly pedunculate. April. l. very shortly petiolate, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, obtuse, rarely 1in. long, deeply crenate, and mostly lobed, with undulated, often crisped margins, glabrous or nearly so above, hirsute beneath. Branches prostrate or ascending, 6in. to 18in. long. 1868. A low shrub or under-shrub.