Parr 3, 1918] ALLIONIACEAR 239 
Mirabilis Jalapa Lindheimeri Standley, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 368. 1909. 
Mirabilis Jalapa ciliata Standley, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 368. 1909. 
Admirabilis peruana Nieuwl. Am. Midi. Nat. 3: 280. 1914. 
Erect perennial, 4-10 dm. high, from a thick woody or fleshy root, much branched, the 
branches erect or ascending, slender or stout, glabrous, puberulent, or rarely short-villous, 
often viscid; petioles slender, 0.3-5 cm. long, the uppermost blades on very short petioles; 
leaf-blades ovate-deltoid, broadly ovate, ovate-oblong, or rarely lance-ovate, 4-14 cm. long, 
2-8.5 cm. wide, subcordate to rounded at the base, short-decurrent, acute to attenuate 
at the apex, often abruptly so, rarely obtuse, thin, bright-green, glabrous or rarely puberulent, 
usually ciliolate; peduncles 1-2 mm. long or rarely longer, or wanting, cymosely glomerate 
at the ends of the branches, the inflorescence bearing numerous reduced leaves; involucre 
campanulate, 7-15 mm. long, glabrous, puberulent, or short-villous, the lobes longer than 
the tube, linear-lanceolate to lance-ovate, acute to attenuate, usually ciliolate; perianth 3-5.5 
em. long, purplish-red (in qultivation often white, yellow, or variegated), glabrous or sparsely 
villous outside, the tube 2-5 mm. thick, gradually dilated upward, the limb 2-3.5 cm. broad, 
shallowly 5-lobed, the lobes broadly rounded; stamens 5, equaling or slightly exceeding the 
perianth; fruit obovoid or oval, 7-9 mm. long, 5-angled, verrucose or rugose, dark-brown or 
black, glabrous or puberulent. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Described from cultivated plants. 
DISTRIBUTION: Western Texas, Mexico, Central America, and southward through tropical 
South America; general in the West Indies but probably naturalized; adventive in Florida and 
along the Gulf Coast of the United States and rarely escaping from cultivation elsewhere; widely 
cultivated and now naturalized through the tropical regions of the Old World. 
ILLUSTRATIONS: Edwards, New Bot. Gard. 1: $l. 36. f. 1; Bot. Mag. pl. 371; Lam. Tab. Encyc. 
pl. 105; Mart. Fl. Bras. 142: pl. 81; Nicholson, Dict. Gard. 2: f. 580; Descourt. Fl. Ant. 2: pl. 139; 
Schkuhr, Ench. pl. 41; Gaertn. Fruct. pl. 127; Rheede, Hort. Malab. pl. 75; Rumph. Hort. Amboin. 
pl. 89; Spach, Hist. Vég. pl. 146; Fawe. & Rendle, Fl. Jam. 3: f. 49. 
6. Mirabilis longiflora L. Sv. Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1755: 176. 1755. 
Jalapa longiflora Moench, Meth. 508. 1794. 
Nyctago longiflora Salish. Prodr. 57. 1796. 
Mirabilis suaveolens H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 213. 1817. 
Plants erect, 5-15 dm. high, much branched, the branches erect or ascending, slender, 
densely viscid-puberulent or short-villous, the internodes usually longer than the leaves; 
petioles slerider, usually less than 1 cm. long but rarely 4.5 cm. long in the lowest leaves, the 
upper leaves sessile or subsessile; leaf-blades cordate-ovate to narrowly deltoid-ovate or lance- 
ovate, 6-11.5 cm. long, 3-7 cm. wide, cordate at the base, acute to long-attenuate at the apex, 
usually subabruptly so, thin, bright-green, densely viscid-puberulent or rarely glabrate; 
inflorescence of numerous dense, axillary or terminal, leafy glomerules, these sometimes sub- 
tended by long linear bractlike leaves; involucres on peduncles 3 mm. long or usually shorter, 
campanulate, 1-1.5 cm. long, densely glandular-villous with short hairs, the lobes slightly 
unequal, equaling or exceeding the tube, triangular to narrowly triangular-lanceolate, very 
acute to long-attenuate; perianth 7-17 cm. long, densely viscid-villous outside, white tinged 
with pink or purplish-red, the tube very slender, about 2 mm. in diameter, abruptly expanded 
into a shallowly 5-lobed limb 2-3 cm. broad; stamens 5, exserted 2.5 cm. or less; fruit oblong, 
ellipsoid, 8 mm. long, 5 mm. in diameter, constricted at both ends, obtusely 5-angled, tubercu- 
late, densely puberulent between the tubercles. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Mexico. ; 
DISTRIBUTION: Western Texas to southern Arizona, southward to Veracruz and Oaxaca. 
I,LUSTRATIONS: Smith, Exot. Bot. 1: pl. 23; Sv. Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1755: pl. 6, f. 1; Nees, 
Pl. Med. Suppl. pi. 33; Gaertn. Fruct. pl. 127; Agardh, Syst. pl. 26. 
7. Mirabilis Wrightiana A. Gray; Britton & Kearney, Trans. N. Y. 
Acad. 14: 28. 1894. 
Plants erect, 6-12 dm. high, much branched, the branches erect or ascending, slender, 
minutely puberulent and scarcely or not at all viscid, glabrate below; petioles slender, 1-6 cm. 
long, the uppermost blades usually short-petiolate, very rarely subsessile; leaf-blades broadly 
cordate-ovate to narrowly ovate-deltoid, 5-12.5 cm. jong, 2-8 cm. wide, cordate to truncate 
at the base and often short-decurrent, rather abruptly acute to long-attenuate at the 
