Mirabilis albida Heimerl

White four o'clock (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Caryophyllales > Nyctaginaceae > Mirabilis

Characteristics

Stems 1-many, erect to decumbent, few or highly branched, sparsely to densely leafy in basal 1/2 or throughout, 0.8-15 dm, glabrous to puberulent basally in 2 lines or throughout, hairs often awned, or stems villous and often viscid, or sometimes hirsute, hair types often mixed, spreading pubescent. Leaves ascending to spreading at 10-90°; petiole 0-4 cm; blade green to glaucous blue-gray, linear-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, ovate, or deltate, 1-11 × 0.6-2.5 cm in lanceolate leaves, 2-9 × 1-6.5 cm in ovate leaves, thin and fleshy to thick and coriaceous, base cuneate to round, truncate, or cordate, apex acute, obtuse, or round, surfaces glabrous or viscid-puberulent, viscid-villous, or hirsute. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, few branched, ± evenly forked and open, or, when axillary, often consisting only of single involucres (and then flowers commonly cleistogamous); peduncle 1-25 mm, puberulent with curled hairs, hispid, villous, or viscid-villous, crosswalls of hairs pale; involucres pale green or sometimes blushed with purple when young, widely bell-shaped, 4-7 mm in flower, 5-15 mm in fruit, sparsely to densely pubescent with small curled hairs or long spreading hairs, often viscid, 50-80% connate, lobes ovate, triangular-ovate, broadly ovate, or occasionally round. Flowers (1-)3 per involucre; perianth white, pink, or deep red-violet, 0.8-1.5 cm. Fruits brown to dark brown with pale tan, brown, or dark brown ribs, obovoid to narrowly obovate and tapering at both ends, 3.5-5.5 mm, pubescent with tufted spreading hairs 0.1-0.5 mm, with or without minute glandular hairs; ribs round or round-angled, (0.3-)0.7-1.5 times width of sulci, 0.5-1 times as wide as high, with tall shelflike tubercles (eastern part of range), smooth or somewhat rugose or moderately tuberculate (western part of range); sulci with prominent, pale, shelflike tubercles (eastern), minutely rugose or with small low warts (western). 2n = 58.
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Stems erect or decumbent, 2–10 dm; each internode below the infl with 2 longitudinal strips of incurved hairs mostly less than 0.5 mm; infl glandular-hairy; invol 4 mm, becoming 1.5–3 cm wide at maturity; cal pink, 7–10 mm; anthocarp narrowly obovoid, 5 mm, thinly hairy, coarsely tuberculate on the sides and ridges. Dry prairies, sandhills, and barrens; S.C. to Tenn., Mo. (and reputedly Io.), and Kans., s. to La. and Tex. Summer (Oxybaphus a.; Allionia a.; A. decumbens)
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support -
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) -
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 4-11

Usage

Uses medicinal
Edible -
Therapeutic use Burn Dressing (root)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) 7 - 21
Germination temperacture (C°) 21
Germination luminosity light
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Flower

Mirabilis albida flower picture by Andrew (cc-by-sa)
Mirabilis albida flower picture by Andrew (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Mirabilis albida world distribution map, present in Canada, Mexico, and United States of America

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:162535-2
WFO ID wfo-0001086669
COL ID 43LFD
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Mirabilis eutricha Mirabilis pauciflora Mirabilis pseudaggregata Oxybaphus pauciflorus Oxybaphus comatus Oxybaphus albidus Mirabilis ciliata Oxybaphus hirsutus Mirabilis albida Mirabilis coahuilensis Mirabilis grayana Mirabilis lanceolata Oxybaphus pumilus Oxybaphus lanceolatus Oxybaphus grayanus Oxybaphus pseudaggregatus Oxybaphus coahuilensis Abronia oblongifolia Oxybaphus nyctagineus var. oblongifolius