Mirabilis jalapa L.

  • Authority

    Britton, Nathaniel L. Flora Borinqueña.

  • Family

    Nyctaginaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Mirabilis jalapa L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Commonly grown for ornament in flower gardens, and freely propagating from seed, this herbaceous perennial has become distributed nearly throughout tropical and subtropical America, north to Texas, Florida and Bermuda; its variously colored, large flowers open in the afternoon, whence the English name; Marvel of Peru is also used for it, as well as Belle de Nuit. It is the only species of the genus growing in Porto Rico, but not native here; its original natural distribution is unrecorded. Mirabilis (Latin, beautiful) has 20 species, or more, all natives of America, the one here illustrated, typical. They are perennial herbs, with tuberous roots, forking stems, and opposite leaves. The clustered flowers are suntended by 5-lobed, calyx-like involucres; the calyx has a long tube and a spreading limb, being the conspicuous part of the flower, as there are no petals; there are 5 or 6 stamens, with slender filaments united into a cup at the base; the ovary, enclosed by the calyx-tube, is 1-celled and 1-ovuled, the style very slender, topped by a small, round stigma. The fruit is small, ribbed, and 1-seeded. Mirabilis Jalapa (formerly erroneously supposed to yield the cathartic drug jalap) is upright, smooth, or sparingly hairy, often much branched, from 0.3 to 0.7 meters high. The broad, pointed, long-stalked leaves are untoothed, sometimes heart-shaped at the base. The bell-shaped, 1-flowered involucre 7 or 8 millimeters high, more or less hairy, with ovate-lanceolate, pointed lobes; the trumpet-shaped calyx is from 3 to 5 centimeters long, red, purple, or white, and often blotched, its tube shorter than the stamens. The ovoid, black fruit is wrinkled, 5-ribbed, from 8 to 10 millimeters long. The drug jalap is derived from the roots of Ipomoea purga, native of Mexico, the name from the city Jalapa.

  • Discussion

    Siciliana Four-O'clock Four-o'clock Family Mirabilis Jalapa Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 177. 1753.