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four o'clock, four o'clock flower, four o'clock umbrella-wort, marvel of peru, wishbone bush

smooth spreading four-o'clock

Stems

decumbent to prostrate, often tangled in other vegetation, 2–12 dm, herbaceous, puberulent in lines or throughout, glandular or not.

Leaves

spreading;

petiole 0.5–3.5 cm;

blade broadly deltate or ovate, 1.5–8 × 1–7.5 cm, fleshy, base cordate, apex usually acute or acuminate (rounded), surfaces glabrous or pubescent, and then often glandular.

Inflorescences

loosely and narrowly cymose;

involucres solitary or clustered at ends of branches, or solitary in axils, 5–9 mm, lobes triangular, base 50–70% of height.

Flowers

3 per involucre;

perianth purplish to pale pink (white), 0.5–0.9 cm.

Fruits

olive, dark brown and black-mottled, or evenly black, sometimes faintly marked with 5 shallow grooves, broadly obovoid to nearly spheric, 2.5–3.5 mm, smooth or slightly rugose.

2n

= 60.

Mirabilis jalapa

Mirabilis oxybaphoides

Phenology Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Brush or boulders, banks in woodlands, moist areas
Elevation 1400-2600 m (4600-8500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CT; DC; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MS; NC; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TX; UT; VA; VT; Mexico [Introduced in North America and elsewhere]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; NV; OK; TX; UT; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (1 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 4, p. 42. FNA vol. 4, p. 47.
Parent taxa Nyctaginaceae > Mirabilis > sect. Mirabilis Nyctaginaceae > Mirabilis > sect. Oxybaphoides
Sibling taxa
M. albida, M. alipes, M. austrotexana, M. coccinea, M. gigantea, M. glabra, M. greenei, M. laevis, M. latifolia, M. linearis, M. longiflora, M. macfarlanei, M. melanotricha, M. multiflora, M. nyctaginea, M. oxybaphoides, M. pudica, M. rotundifolia, M. tenuiloba, M. texensis
M. albida, M. alipes, M. austrotexana, M. coccinea, M. gigantea, M. glabra, M. greenei, M. jalapa, M. laevis, M. latifolia, M. linearis, M. longiflora, M. macfarlanei, M. melanotricha, M. multiflora, M. nyctaginea, M. pudica, M. rotundifolia, M. tenuiloba, M. texensis
Subordinate taxa
M. jalapa var. jalapa
Synonyms Quamoclidion oxybaphoides, Allionia oxybaphoides
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 177. (1753) (A. Gray) A. Gray: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 173. (1859)
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