petunia
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petunia,
any plant of the genus Petunia, South American herbs of the family Solanaceae (nightshadenightshade,common name for the Solanaceae, a family of herbs, shrubs, and a few trees of warm regions, chiefly tropical America. Many are climbing or creeping types, and rank-smelling foliage is typical of many species.
..... Click the link for more information. family). The common garden petunias, planted also in window boxes, are all considered hybrids of white-flowered and violet-flowered species from Argentina. The plants are of a straggling habit and produce an abundance of large, funnel-shaped, fragrant blossoms. Petunias are classified in the division MagnoliophytaMagnoliophyta
, division of the plant kingdom consisting of those organisms commonly called the flowering plants, or angiosperms. The angiosperms have leaves, stems, and roots, and vascular, or conducting, tissue (xylem and phloem).
..... Click the link for more information. , class Magnoliopsida, order Solanales, family Solanaceae.
Petunia
a genus of annual or perennial herbaceous plants of the family Solanaceae. The branching stems are often glandular-hairy. The leaves are entire, and the flowers are solitary and usually large. The corolla, which is violet, reddish, or white, has a cylindrical or hornlike tube and a funnelform or salverform blade with five lobes. The fruit is a capsule.
There are approximately 15 species (according to other data, as many as 40), distributed in South America and in the southern part of North America. Numerous varieties are used as annual ornamentals: they are used as plant borders or planted in flower beds or pots. The varieties are combined under the general name of the common garden petunia (P. × hybrida) and are differentiated according to stem length, size, and the shape and color of the flowers.