Flora of North America species comparison

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Petunia axillaris

common garden or hybrid petunia, garden petunia, large white petunia
Stems

1.5–7 dm.
Leaf

blades: proximalmost oblanceolate, distalmost lanceolate to ovate, 2–8.5 (including petiole) × 0.8–3.5 cm, margins entire.
Pedicels

1.5–8 cm.
Flowers

calyx 8–17 mm, lobes 4–14 mm;

corolla ivory to white (lobe apex sometimes drying pale pink), veins often green or dark purple (drying brownish), salverform, tube 2.8–5.2 cm, limb 2.5–5.5 cm diam.;

stamens inserted near midpoint of corolla tube, not surpassing style;

anthers and pollen yellow;

filaments green;

pistil 3.2–4.5 cm.
Capsules

5–12 mm.
2n

= 14.

Petunia axillaris
Phenology Flowering May–Oct.
Habitat Waste places, along railroads and roadsides, poor soil.
Elevation 0–400 m. [0–1300 ft.]
Distribution
map from FNA
AL; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; MA; MI; MN; MO; NC; NJ; NY; OH; PA; SC; TN; TX; WV; South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay) [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Specimens of Petunia axillaris are often misidentified as P. × atkinsiana, especially if there is some slight color in the corolla. Petunia × atkinsiana with white corollas sometimes has the blue pollen and anther color of P. integrifolia.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Parent taxa Solanaceae > Petunia
Sibling taxa
P. integrifolia, P. ×atkinsiana
Synonyms Nicotiana axillaris
Name authority (Lamarck) Britton: Sterns & Poggenburg, Prelim. Cat., 38. (1888)
Source FNA vol. 14. Treatment authors: Kathryn L. Fox, Janet R. Sullivan.
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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