Habit: Perennial herb, subshrub.
Stem: repeatedly forked, decumbent to erect.
Leaf: generally petioled.
Inflorescence: branches ending in umbel-like cluster or solitary flowers; bracts 5(9), +- fused (or not) into calyx-like, bell- to saucer-shaped involucre; flowers in 1 involucre 1--16, generally not blooming together; flowers cleistogamous or not.
Flower: radial or +- bilateral; perianth funnel- to bell-shaped, lobes 5; stamens 3--5, generally exserted; stigma +- spheric, generally exserted.
Fruit: +- round to club-shaped; ribs or angles 0, 5, 10; wings 0.
Species In Genus: +- 60 species: America, Himalayas.
Etymology: (Latin: wonderful)
Note: Flowers open in evening, close in morning; species intergrade, taxonomy unsettled.
Jepson eFlora Author: Andy Murdock
Reference: Spellenberg 2003 FNANM 4:40--57
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Mirabilis
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