''Ruehssia'' is a genus of plants in the family

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of the ...

. It is also in the Asclepiadoideae subfamily and Marsdenieae tribe. Its native range is tropical and subtropical South America. It is found in Argentina (north-eastern and north-western), Belize, Bolivia, Brazil (north, north-eastern, south, south-eastern and west-central), Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, the Leeward Islands, Mexico (north-eastern, south-eastern and south-western), Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela and the Windward Islands. The genus name of ''Ruehssia'' is in honour of Carl Andreas Rühsz (1805–1880), the German consul in

Puerto Cabello Puerto Cabello () is a city on the north coast of Venezuela. It is located in Carabobo State, about 210 km west of Caracas. As of 2011, the city had a population of around 182,400. The city is home to the largest and busiest port in the coun ...

, Venezuela. He was a supporter of art and science. It was first described and published in Verh. Vereins Beförd. Gartenbaues Königl. Preuss. Staaten Vol.19 on page 304 in 1849.

Known species

According to Kew; A recently published Puerto Rican endemic plant species, ''Ruehssia woodburyana'' has not yet been accepted by Kew, it is listed as Critically Endangered (CR), based on Criteria C2a(i)+D, according to the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q86711430 Apocynaceae genera Plants described in 1849 Flora of Mexico Flora of Central America Flora of the Caribbean Flora of northern South America Flora of western South America Flora of Brazil Flora of Northeast Argentina Flora of Northwest Argentina Flora of Paraguay Flora of Uruguay Asclepiadoideae Taxa named by Gustav Karl Wilhelm Hermann Karsten