2. Ruellia pedunculata Torr. ex A. Gray (wild petunia)

R. pedunculata f. baueri Steyerm.

Pl. 195 j, k; Map 802

Stems 15–70 cm long, branched by flowering time, evenly hairy on all sides with recurved hairs 0.1–0.3 mm long. Leaves with petioles 3–15 mm long, the blades of main stem leaves 2–11 cm long (those of flowering branches 1–5 cm), lanceolate to ovate, mostly tapered to a sharp point at the tip, angled to rounded at the base, hairy on both sides, sometimes sparsely so. Inflorescences consisting of flower clusters at and near the tip of axillary branches (inflorescence stalks) to 20 cm long, the flowers subtended by hairy, lanceolate to ovate bracts 7–25 mm long. Calyx lobes 10–30 mm long, 0.5–1.5 mm wide, linear, often needlelike or bristlelike, hairy. Corollas 3–6 cm long, 2–3 cm wide. Fruits 13–20 mm long, finely hairy. 2n=34. May–September.

Scattered in the Ozark and Ozark Border Divisions and uncommon in the Big Rivers and Mississippi Lowlands Divisions (southeastern U.S. west to Missouri and Texas). Mesic to dry upland forests, ledges of bluffs, and glades; less commonly bottomland forests and banks of streams; also roadsides.

The closely related R. pinetorum Fernald of the southeastern United States is sometimes treated as a subspecies of R. pedunculata (Wasshausen, 1966; Long, 1970; Turner, 1991). It differs in its glabrous fruits and more or less sessile leaves.