Petunia axillaris (Lam.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb. APNI*
Description: Annual or short-lived perennial herb, usually 30–80 cm high, branches erect or decumbent, glandular-hairy.
Leaves ovate to elliptic, 2–7 cm long, 15–40 mm wide, apex acute; lower leaves alternate, petiolate; upper leaves sometimes opposite, sessile or almost so, decreasing in size on flowering stems.
Pedicels 2–4 cm long. Calyx 10–20 mm long; lobes oblong. Corolla white; tube obconical, scarcely inflated, 30–45 mm long; limb rotate to broad-stellate, 40–60 mm diam.; lobes rounded. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube, filaments 10–15 mm long; anthers 2–3 mm long. Style 20–30 mm long, erect.
Capsule 8–12 mm long, not or shortly exceeded by calyx lobes.
Flowering: spring–summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Occasionally grown as an ornamental, naturalised in wasteland, chiefly north from Sydney. Native of S Amer.
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC, *SC, *NWS, *CWS, *NWP
Other Australian states: *Qld
It is uncertain whether naturalised plants are introductions of this species or reversion of the garden Petunia to a P. axillaris-like form.
Text by B. J. Conn Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 3 (1992)
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