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(Last Modified On 5/15/2013)
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(Last Modified On 5/15/2013)
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Genus
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Petunia Juss.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Ann. Mus. Paris 2: 215, tab. 47. 1803.
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Note
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TYPE: P. parviflora JUSS.29
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Description
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Viscid, unarmed herbs or shrubs. Leaves simple, entire, sessile or rarely petiolate; minor leaves absent. Inflorescence a short raceme with paired, equal bracts, the flowers remote and appearing solitary with paired, equal bracteoles,
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Habit
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herbs or shrubs
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Description
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the pedicels sturdy, articulating at the base. Flowers minute to large and showy, 5-merous, slightly irregular, calyx campanulate or tubular-salverform, strongly nerved, lobed more than halfway to the base, the lobes sometimes subfoliaceous; corolla salverform, tubiform or funnelform, prefloration induplicate, the limb sinuate-lobed; stamens equal or not, the filaments inserted below the middle of the corolla tube, sometimes geniculate, the anthers included, ovoid, versatile, 4-thecate, dehiscing longitudinally; ovary 2-loculed, the ovules many on axile placentae. Fruit a dry capsule dehiscing septicidally in the apical portion, many- seeded; seeds minute, globose, reniform or prismatic, foveate; embryo straight or slightly curved.
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Distribution
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A genus of about 35 species scattered in ultramontane South America and centered in southeastern Brazil, one species disjunct in northern Mexico and the southern United States.
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Note
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This genus, together with the similar genus Nicotiana, represents an element possibly primitive to the tribe Salpiglossidae. A discussion of evolutionary relationships appears in Goodspeed, The Genus Nicotiana (Chron. Bot. 16. 1954). Petunia is distinguished from Nicotiana in the bracts and bracteoles being always paired, leading to a frequent statement that Petunia has opposite leaves. In addition, the corolla mouth in Petunia is not usually so con- tracted as in Nicotiana. Petunia violacea is widely cultivated for ornament and many large-flowered and showy cultivars, some involving polyploidy, are avail- able from northern seed houses. The name is derived from "petum," an aboriginal name for tobacco.
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Reference
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Fries, R. E. Die Arten der Gattung Petunia. Kongl. Svensk. Vetenskapsakad. Handl. 46. 1911.
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