Mirabilis laevis
Mirabilis gigantea
desert four o'clock, desert wishbone, desert wishbone-bush, wishbone bush
giant four o'clock
decumbent to erect, few and clambering through other vegetation to many, and then usually forming densely leafy and compact clumps, 1.5–15 dm, herbaceous, suffrutescent, or woody basally, glabrous, scabrous, puberulent, or villous, often glandular.
erect, moderately leafy in proximal 2/3 of plant, few branched distally, 5–20 dm, basally finely pubescent with appressed, curled hairs often in 2 bands or rarely glabrate; distally densely puberulent with appressed, curled hairs.
spreading;
petiole 0.1–2.2 cm;
blade ovate, deltate-ovate, ovate-rhombic, subreniform, 1–4(–5.5) × 0.5–3.5(–5) cm, fleshy to slightly succulent, base cordate, truncate, or broadly obtuse, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded, surfaces glabrous, scabrous, puberulent, or villous, often glandular.
ascending at 30–45°, progressively reduced toward infloresence;
petiole 0.2–1 cm;
blade grayish green, ovate to broadly lanceolate or oblong, 5–10.5 × 1.8–8 cm, coriaceous, base cuneate to round, truncate, or cordate, apex usually acute to obtuse, occasionally round, surfaces usually glabrous, sometimes very sparsely puberulent with curved hairs.
widely cymose, or ± thyrsoid, involucres clustered, and nearly sessile at ends of branches, or solitary in axils on peduncles 3–12 mm;
involucres 3–7 mm, lobes narrowly to broadly triangular, or triangular-lanceolate, base 30–50% of height.
usually terminal, main axis with short side branches, sometimes short branches present in upper axils;
peduncle 5–19 mm, usually densely puberulent with curled hairs, sometimes sparsely so, occasionally spreading-villous, crosswalls of hairs pale;
involucres pale green, widely bell-shaped, 4–5 mm in flower, 7–9 mm in fruit, sparsely to densely puberulent with curved hairs, 50–70% connate, lobes ovate.
1(–2) per involucre;
perianth white, pink, or shades of purple, 1–1.6 cm.
3 per involucre;
perianth rose-pink to pale pink, 1 cm.
gray, dark brown, or nearly black, often mottled with dark brown or black, with or without 10 pale, diffuse lines, ovoid, obovoid, or nearly spheric, 3–5.5 mm, smooth or moderately rugose.
dark grayish brown, narrowly obovoid, 4–5.3 mm, shaggy-pubescent with spreading hairs often tufted on tubercles, hairs 0.3–0.5 mm, also with layer of minute hairs;
ribs usually paler, round-angular, 0.5–1 times width of sulci, as wide as high, irregularly notched or tuberculate, often most deeply so near apex;
sulci usually with small dark tubercules or raised, horizontal, riblike tubercles.
Mirabilis laevis
Mirabilis gigantea
Varieties 4 (3 in the flora).
Mirabilis laevis is a complex of poorly differentiated forms that differ to a greater or lesser extent primarily by perianth color, pubescence, and habit, characteristics that show imperfect geographic consistency. In general, white-flowered plants occur in arid areas east of the southern California mountains, and magenta-flowered plants occur west of the mountains; in the arid regions viscid-pubescent plants occur to the south, less viscid plants to the north. Sympatry and intergradation are frequent in the southern Sierra Nevada, southward along the east side of the southern California mountains, and on the northern portion of the peninsula of Baja California. The variety laevis, which is glabrous or glabrate, is restricted to the immediate coast and islands in the vicinity of Bahía Magdalena in Baja California Sur.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
In the northern portion of the range, Mirabilis gigantea appears to intergrade with M. albida.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Perianth usually pink, lavender, or magenta, rarely white; lobes of involucre ovate or ovate-oblong, base of lobes 50-70% of their height; pubescence usually not notably viscid or retrorse (but stout curved hairs occur on plants along coast); inflorescences often narrow, ± thyrselike | var. crassifolia |
1. Perianth usually white, rarely pale pink or purplish; lobes of involucre often narrowly triangular, base of lobes 60-100% of their height; pubescence commonly viscid-puberulent, viscid-villous, or sparsely short pubescent with retrorse hairs; inflorescences usually broad, cymose | → 2 |
2. Plants viscid-puberulent to viscid-villous | var. villosa |
2. Plants retrorse-puberulent | var. retrorsa |
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
