Fringeleaf Wild Petunia is a native erect perennial that grows to about one foot high on light green 4-angled stems covered with fine hair. Stem branching occurs.

The leaves are opposite, lanceolate to ovate in shape, up to 2-1/2 inches long, smooth margins, with fine whitish hair on the upper and lower sides and on the very short stalk.

The inflorescence is a solitary 5-parted funnel shaped flower that grows from the leaf axils. The 5 corolla lobes are light lavender to light purple in color, are fused at the base and then separate at the top into spreading flared lobes. The long lobes of the corolla, from 1-1/4 to 2-3/4 inches long, give the appearance of the flower having a stalk, but it usually does not. Inside the funnel of the corolla there are darker purple nectar guide lines; four stamens with lilac to tan anthers that are united as pairs at their bases, with one pair being longer than the other pair; the pistil has a white or lilac colored style. There are 5 sepals that have erect linear pointed lobes with bristly hair along the edges. Flowers are subtended by lance shaped bracts.

Seeds: Fertile flowers produce a 2-chambered capsule containing 3 to 8 seeds per chamber. The seeds are smooth and have coiled threads so that when the chamber splits, these can explosively propel themselves away from the plant. Seeds require 70 days of cold stratification for germination.

Habitat: Fringeleaf Wild Petunia is adaptable to various soils, but needs full sun to flower best. Moisture conditions run from mesic to dry. The plant is not common in its native areas and is usually restricted to prairie areas with low growing vegetation as it does not compete well with taller plants. The root system is composed of numerous slender rhizomes which allow the plant to vegetatively propagate.

Names: The genus, Ruellia, is named for the early French herbalist, Jean Ruelle (1474-1537). The species, humilis, is Latin for low-growing or humble, referring to the low height of this species. The author name for the plant classification - ‘Nutt.’ is for Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859) English botanist who lived and worked in America from 1808 to 1841. On his many expeditions he collected many species that had been originally collected by Lewis and Clark but lost by them on their return journey. He also collaborated with French botanist Francois Andre Michaux (1770-1855) in Michaux’s 3 volume North American Sylva. As to all the alternate common names, they are self-explanatory based on the description of the plant.

Comparisons: This plant has many variable characteristics, such as leaf shape, amount of hairiness, size of flower, not to mention the resemblance to the cultivated annual petunia, which is in an entirely different plant family.