PETUNIA

Petunia Juss., Ann. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. 2: 215. 1803; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 17: 332. 1994; Nasir, Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 58.

Annual or perennial herbs, usually glandular hairy. Stems erect, often weak, reclining or lying on ground with tips ascending, branched. Leaves petiolate, simple, entire. Flowers solitary axillary or terminal, somewhat actinomorphic. Calyx tubular-campanulate, deeply 5- parted, persistent. Corolla variously coloured and showy, funnelform or salverform, tube gradually inflated upwards; limb broad, 5-lobed, lobes short, rounded or short pointed. Stamens 5, inserted in corolla tube, included; filaments slender; anthers dehiscing longitudinally. Disc glandular, entire or lobed. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary 2-locular, many ovules in each loculus, placentas swollen, placentation axile; style slender; stigma indistinctly 2-lobed. Fruit a dry, 2-valved capsule. Seeds minute, subglobose or ovoid, reticulate-pitted.

16 species

Petunia axillaris

Petunia axillaris (Lam.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb., Prelim. Cat.: 38. 1888.

Annual herb, 30-60 cm tall, glandular hairy. Stem often weak, scandent, branched. Leaves opposite, sessile or subsessile, petiole up to 6 mm long; leaf blade ovate, 3-8 cm x 1.5- 4.8 cm, base cuneate, truncate or rounded, margin entire, apex acute, both surfaces glandular pubescent. Flowers solitary, axillary or terminal, actinomorphic, bisexual, 5-merous, hypogynous; pedicel 2.7-5 cm, glandular hairy. Calyx 1.5-1.9(-2.3) cm long and 3.5 mm wide, deeply 5- parted; lobes linear or ovate, subequal, 1.3-1.4(-1.9) cm x 0.25-0.6(-1) cm, obtuse, persistent. Corolla white, sometimes fragrant, funnelform, 5-7 cm long and 4.5-5 cm across; limb spreading, broad, 5-lobed, lobes short, rounded or short pointed; tube 3.8-4 cm long, gradually inflated upwards, glandular hairy without. Stamens 5, inserted in corolla tube nearly in middle, included; filaments slender, unequal, 1.2-1.8 cm long; anthers small, dehiscing longitudinally. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary ca. 4 mm long, 2-locular, many ovules per loculus on axile swollen placentas; style 3-3.8 cm long, slightly exceeding stamens; stigma indistinctly 2-lobed, lobes flat. Capsule conical, ca. 1 cm long, dehiscing by 2-valves, surrounded by persistent calyx. Seeds subglobose, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter.

Flowering and Fruiting: January to June
Common Names: Large white Petunia, Wild White Petunia, White Moon Petunia