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.[1]
The genus name of Ruehssia is in honour of Carl Andreas Rühsz (1805–1880), the German consul in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. He was a supporter of art and science.[4]
It was first described and published in Verh. Vereins Beförd. Gartenbaues Königl. Preuss. Staaten Vol.19 on page 304 in 1849.[1]
A recently published Puerto Rican endemic plant species, Ruehssia woodburyana(Acev.-Rodr.) Goyder has not yet been accepted by Kew, it is listed as as Critically Endangered (CR), based on Criteria C2a(i)+D, according to the IUCN Red List.[5]
^LIEDE-SCHUMANN, SIGRID; KELLER, HÉCTOR A. (17 November 2020). "New combinations in Ruehssia for the South American species of Marsdenia (Apocynaceae-Asclepiadoideae)". Phytotaxa. 471 (3). doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.471.3.10.
^Espírito Santo, Fabio da Silva do; Rapini, Alessandro; Ribeiro, Patrícia Luz; Liede-Schumann, Sigrid; Goyder, David J.; Fontella-Pereira, Jorge (2019). "Phylogeny of the tribe Marsdenieae (Apocynaceae), reinstatement of Ruehssia and the taxonomic treatment of the genus in Brazil". Kew Bulletin. 74 (30).
^Bárrios, Sara; Sustache, José A.; Goyder, David; Hamilton, Martin A. (23 January 2020). "New island record and conservation status of Puerto Rican Bank endemic plant species, Ruehssia woodburyana (Acev.-Rodr.) Goyder, comb. nov., formally transferred from Marsdenia". Biodivers Data J . doi:0.3897/BDJ.8.e47110. ((cite journal)): Check |doi= value (help)