Key to Mirabilis

View taxon page for Mirabilis

(For a list of species in Mirabilis, use the above link.)

Jepson Manual glossary definitions can be seen by moving your cursor over words underlined with dots.

1. Fruit < 3 mm wide, ribs 5, strong, generally with prominent warts or coarse wrinkles between; 

involucre 

Group of bracts more or less held together as a unit, subtending a flower, fruit (acorn cup), or inflorescence.

enlarged, brown, papery in fruit

2. Leaf petioled, 

lanceolate 

Narrowly elongate, widest in the basal half, often tapered to an acute tip.

or wider

3. Involucre in flower hairy throughout on outside, in fruit generally < 8 mm ..... M. albida

3' Involucre in flower short-hairy at base, glabrous on 

lobes 

1. A major expansion or bulge, such as on the margin of a leaf, sepal, or petal, or on the surface of an ovary. 2. The free tips of otherwise fused structures, such as sepals or petals; larger than teeth.

, in fruit 10–15 mm ..... [M. nyctaginea]

2' Leaf ± 

sessile 

Without a petiole, peduncle, pedicel, or other kind of stalk.

, 

linear 

Elongate, with nearly parallel sides; narrower than elliptic or oblong.

to narrowly lanceolate

4. Perianth bright red, 3–4 × length of involucre in flower ..... M. coccinea

4' Perianth pale pink to magenta, ± 2 × length of involucre in flower ..... M. linearis var. linearis

1' Fruit often > 3 mm wide, ribs or angles 0, 5, 10, moderate to inconspicuous, sometimes with low wrinkles or warts between; involucre little changed in fruit

5. Involucre 3–16-flowered, bracts > 15 mm, free to fused

6. Perianth ± 15 mm, bell-shaped; bracts 15–30 mm, free to ± 1/2 fused ..... M. alipes

6' Perianth 40–60 mm, 

funnel-shaped 

Widening from the base more or less gradually through the throat into an ascending, spreading, or recurved limb; often applied to a fused calyx or corolla.

; bracts > 22 mm, > 1/2 fused

7. Fruit bluntly 5-angled ..... M. greenei

7' Fruit not angled, often with 10 lines or low ribs ..... M. multiflora

8. Fruit faintly warty, ribs generally inconspicuous, gelatinous when wet ..... var. glandulosa

8' Fruit ± smooth, with 10 slender, tan, sometimes raised ribs, generally alternating with 10 brown, often interrupted lines, not gelatinous when wet ..... var. pubescens

5' Involucre 1(2)-flowered, bracts < 15 mm, fused

9. Perianth 30–50 mm; fruit with 5 blunt ribs, ± wrinkled or warty between ..... M. jalapa var. jalapa

9' Perianth < 15 mm; fruit unmarked or with generally 10 obscure lines, ± wrinkled or warty between or not

10. Involucre 8–13 mm, lobes > tube, narrowly lanceolate; perianth ± white; leaves 

ascending 

Curving or angling upward from base, or about 30-60 degrees less than vertical or away from axis of attachment.

..... M. tenuiloba

10' Involucre 3–7 mm, lobes < tube, ± 

ovate 

Egg-shaped (i.e., widest below the middle) in two dimensions (i.e., in one plane), as a leaf.

; perianth white to magenta; leaves widely 

spreading 

Oriented more or less perpendicularly to the axis of attachment; often, more or less horizontal.

..... M. laevis

11. Perianth pink to purple-red (white); 

leaf 

Organ arising from a stem, generally composed of a stalk (petiole) and a flat, expanded, green, photosynthetic area (blade); distinguished from a leaflet by the presence in its axil of a bud, branch, thorn, or flower; sometimes with lateral, basal appendages (stipules); either simple (toothed, lobed, or dissected but not divided into leaflets) or compound (divided into leaflets).

 

puberulent 

Minutely hairy.

or glandular-hairy ..... var. crassifolia

11' Perianth white (pale pink); leaf generally ± glandular-hairy

12. Fruit ± spheric, generally with 5–10 visible lines; stems, leaves with short, 

reflexed 

Abruptly bent or curved downward or backward.

 hairs, generally also ± glandular-hairy ..... var. retrorsa

12' Fruit generally ± ovoid, generally with 0 visible lines, rarely 5–10 barely visible lines; stems, leaves glandular-hairy ..... var. villosa

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