Mirabilis jalapa seeds Marvel of Peru

LATIN NAME: Mirabilis jalapa

COMMON NAME: Four O’Clock Flower, Marvel of Peru, Beauty of the Night

The four o’clock flower is a cheerful and fragrant plant of the summer garden, and its trumpet blooms open in the cool of the evening with a sweet scent. It grows as a bushy, tuberous perennial, usually grown as an annual, reaching up to a metre, with soft, oval leaves and, through the summer and autumn, a long succession of trumpet-shaped, five-lobed flowers in a remarkable range of colours, from pink, red and magenta to yellow and white, often with two or even three colours on a single plant, and even on a single flower, while the flowers open in the late afternoon and stay open through the night, filling the evening air with scent, followed by the small, hard, black seeds. It is the most commonly grown ornamental species of Mirabilis, and it is available in a range of colours, while the name jalapa recalls the state capital of the region of its origin.

The four o’clock flower belongs to the four o’clock family, Nyctaginaceae, and it is the most commonly grown ornamental species of the genus Mirabilis. Mirabilis in Latin means wonderful, and Jalapa is the state capital of the region of its origin, while it is grown for its fragrant, evening-opening flowers in a remarkable range of colours.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The four o’clock flower has a genuine and growing place in both horticultural and botanical research. It has been studied in horticulture, since it is a cheerful and easy ornamental, prized for its fragrant, evening-opening flowers and its remarkable range of colours, and researchers have examined its cultivation, its breeding and its many forms, while the striking habit of the plant of carrying two or three colours on a single flower has made it of real interest in the study of flower colour and of the inheritance of colour, and it has been a classic subject in the early studies of the genetics of flower colour. The plant has also been studied in botany, since it is a member of the four o’clock family, and researchers have examined its classification and its relationships, while the evening-opening habit of the flowers has been studied in the biology of the night-flowering plants. The species has also been studied in chemistry, since the plant has had traditional uses, and its content has been examined. For a plant of such colour and such a story, the four o’clock flower has a rich and growing record of research.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

Ecologically, the four o’clock flower is a generous plant of the summer evening. Its fragrant flowers open in the evening and feed the moths and the night insects, while its seeds feed small birds, and it brings its scent to the warm summer nights of the garden.

Its economic value is real. It is a cheerful and easy ornamental, grown in gardens and in containers around the world, prized for its evening bloom and its colours, and its charming habit has drawn attention in the international gardening press as a favourite of the cottage and the evening garden, while it has also had traditional uses in its native range. For a grower, the four o’clock flower is an easy and rewarding plant, and for a gardener it brings sweet-scented, many-coloured bloom to the evening garden. The seeds are easy — soak them overnight, then sow them in a pot of moist compost in a warm, sunny spot, water them gently, and they’ll sprout within a week or two, growing on into a bushy, fragrant, evening-blooming plant.

Mirabilis jalapa originates from the Peruvian Andes and the hub of the Incan empire. It is a spreading plant with interesting arrow shaped leaves which grows up to 2 ft tall and wide. It blooms all season long in magnificent flushes of lovely tubular flowers with a wide corolla. The flowers can range from white to reddish to purplish with nearly every plant producing a different color. The flowers open in the late afternoon and emit a wonderful fragrance throughout the evening. This is an old time garden standard which has become increasingly uncommon nowadays. Interestingly the plants emerge from a massive caudex. Fat plant collectors often display these in pots raised for viewing. They make outstanding additions to the Caudex collection! M. jalapa is root hardy to zero. It is fast growing and easy from seed and also self seeds readily (without becoming invasive). In the ethnobotanical sense this species also has a long history. The flowers have traditionally been used as a natural food coloring. The leaves are eaten as a famine food in S. America. The leaves are also commonly used as a wound dressing for preventing or treating infection. The root is diuretic and also considered to be an aphrodisiac. The black seeds, which somewhat resemble small rudraksha, have been used to fashion rosaries. This one is definitely a good addition to the flower bed!