Mirabilis jalapa
Content
Description
Erect perennial herb to 1.5 m; usually large, fleshy, much-branched taproot. Stem much branched, glabrous or puberulent in lines, rarely villous. Petiole 0.5-5.5 cm long, glabrous or puberulent; blade lanceolate, deltate, ovate-deltate, broadly ovate or lance-ovate, 3.2-14 x 1.8-8.5 cm, apex acute or acuminate, base subcordate or rounded and short-decurrent, glabrous or rarely puberulent, except for ciliate margin. Inflorescence a terminal cyme; peduncle absent or 1-2 mm long; branches ending in 2- to 5-flowered cymose glomerules; involucre 7-19 mm long (longer in fruit), glabrous, puberulent or short-villous, 5-lobed, lobes linear-lanceolate to lance-ovate, ca. 2-3 mm long, acute to attenuate, usually ciliate. Perianth 3-5.5 cm long, variable in colour (pink, red, purple, yellow or white), glabrous or sparsely villous outside, tube 1.5 mm diam., dilated above, limb 2-3.5 cm wide, shallowly lobed; stamens 5, equalling to greatly exceeding perianth. Anthocarp ovoid or obovoid, 7-13 mm long, 5-angled or -ribbed, slightly constricted above base, muricate, verrucose or rugose, glabrous or puberulent, dark brown or black.
Distribution
French Guiana present, Guyana cultivated, Northern America, Suriname present, tropical America present
Tropical America, the exact origin unknown but possibly Mexico (Standley, 1931); pantropically cultivated ornamental, including in gardens of Guyana and Suriname, and occasionally observed in Suriname as probably naturalized; 20 collections studied (GU: 2; SU: 18). The species is cited from Cayenne, French Guiana by Lemée (1955); two specimens at F, from Kamakusa and Demerara in Guyana (both not seen), were cited by Standley (1931).