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four-o'clock, heart-leaf four-o'clock, heart-leaf umbrella-wort, heartleaf umbrellawort four-o'clock, umbrellawort, wild four-o'clock

Macfarlane's four-o'clock

Habit Herbs, forming hemispheric clumps 6–8 dm diam., glabrous or sparsely puberulent.
Stems

usually erect or ascending, occasionally decumbent, leafy mostly in proximal 2/3 of plant, openly forked distally, 4–15 dm, basally usually glabrous or puberulent in 2 lines, rarely spreading-pubescent; distally stems usually puberulent in 2 lines, occasionally glabrate, rarely spreading glandular-pubescent.

6–10 dm.

Leaves

ascending at 45–80°, abruptly reduced to inflorescence;

petiole 0.2–2 cm;

blade green, ovate-lanceolate to ovate or triangular, 3–10 × 2–6.5 cm, usually ± thin, base obtuse, round, truncate, or cordate, apex acute to acuminate, rarely rounded, surfaces usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent or sparsely hispidulous.

spreading;

petioles of proximal leaves 1–2.5 cm;

blades of midstem leaves suborbiculate to widely ovate, 3.5–5 × 3–5 cm, base obtuse to cordate, symmetric, apex obtuse to rounded, rarely acute.

Inflorescences

terminal and in upper axils, subumbellate clusters at ends of long, forked branches;

peduncle 5–20 mm, usually pubescent with ascending, often curved, glandular or eglandular hairs, crosswalls of hairs pale;

involucres pale green, often tinged pinkish, widely bell-shaped to almost rotate, 4–6 mm in flower, 8–15 mm in fruit, glabrous or glabrate but with minute curved hairs on margins, or rarely puberulent or pilose throughout, 50–90% connate, lobes ovate to broadly ovate.

Involucres

peduncle 4–25 mm;

involucres erect or ascending, 13–23 mm;

bracts 5, 50% connate, 15–20 mm, apex acute to widely ovate.

Flowers

(2–)3(–5) per involucre;

perianth usually pink to reddish purple, rarely white, 1 cm.

6 per involucre;

perianth magenta, funnelform, 1.5–2.5 cm.

Fruits

dark grayish brown to reddish brown (ribs and tubercles usually slightly paler), narrowly obovate and tapering at both ends, 3.4–5 mm, shaggy-pubescent with spreading, sometimes tufted, hairs, 0.3–0.4 mm, sometimes also with layer of minute hairs;

ribs usually irregularly and deeply notched, especially toward apex, round to bluntly angled, 0.5–0.75 times width of sulci, 0.5–1 times as wide as high;

sulci with pale small to tall tubercles that are sometimes horizontally lengthened and shelflike.

light brown, with 10 slender ribs visible when wet, widely obovoid to ellipsoid, 6–7.5 mm, tuberculate, glabrous or very sparsely puberulent, secreting mucilage most abundantly on ribs when wetted.

2n

= 58.

Mirabilis nyctaginea

Mirabilis macfarlanei

Phenology Flowering late spring–early fall. Flowering late spring.
Habitat Weedy areas in dry, often disturbed sites Exposed slopes in canyons
Elevation 100-2200 m (300-7200 ft) 400-500 m (1300-1600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; ON; QC; SK; Europe [Introduced in Mexico]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
ID; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Mirabilis nyctaginea is considered a noxious weed in some states. The holotype of Mirabilis ×collina Shinners is a hybrid between M. nyctaginea and M. albida. On the Great Plains, M. nyctaginea also appears to intergrade with M. albida. Prominence of the tubercles and redness of the fruits decreases in western populations. Near the Great Lakes, comparatively narrow-leaved plants with sparsely hirsute stems seem to be intergrades between M. nyctaginea and more or less hirsute M. albida. Mirabilis ×serotina Shinners is a hybrid between M. nyctaginea and M. glabra.

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

Of conservation concern.

Mirabilis macfarlanei is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

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

Source FNA vol. 4, p. 55. FNA vol. 4, p. 45.
Parent taxa Nyctaginaceae > Mirabilis > sect. Oxybaphus Nyctaginaceae > Mirabilis > sect. Quamoclidion
Sibling taxa
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. 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. melanotricha, M. multiflora, M. nyctaginea, M. oxybaphoides, M. pudica, M. rotundifolia, M. tenuiloba, M. texensis
Synonyms Allionia nyctaginea, Oxybaphus nyctagineus
Name authority (Michaux) MacMillan: Metasp. Minnesota Valley, 217. (1892) Constance & Rollins: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 49: 148. (1936)
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