u/Exotic_Cap8939

I am in the process of incorporating the wild Petunia exserta into some of my petunia breeding. I am sadly having trouble finding useful publicly available information about this species, so I thought I would share my own information here in case others need it!

These specimens are roughly 5 months old, but I regret to admit that three of those months were spent overcrowded and lacking nutrients in a seedling tray, so these images are not an accurate representation of a wild or regularly cultivated P. exserta at this age.

Some potentially useful information:

- On average, the flowers are roughly 42mm from petal to petal. Some are upwards of 42mm; others are barely 39mm.

- The largest leaves are slightly over 100mm (~3.96”). This is rather large for a species in the petunia genus.

- These exserta are displaying a larger root system than most modern hybrid petunias, which gives me hope that by incorporating exserta genes it will be possible to increase the drought resistance and compact soil tolerance in petunias in order to create an in-ground petunia variety. This makes sense as the species grows natively in rocky sandstone formations.

This specimen is likely a result of an Easy Wave Plum Vein self-pollinating. I notice that—unlike its presumed parent—it has a strong scent, slightly lighter petal pigmentation, and a strong drought-tolerance. I understand that the F2 generation is usually rather diverse, but this one specimen seems to be very similar to its parent, unlike the other F2s I have grown of this species which almost always turn out random and unlike their parent.