MIRA'BILIS JALA'PA. 



COMMON MARVEL OF PERU. 

 Class. Order. 



PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 



Natural Order. 



NYCTAGINEjE. 



No. 16. 



This plant is said to have received its name, Mira- 

 bilis, from the 'wonderful diversity of colours in the 

 flowers.' We may venture an opinion that it arose 

 from the diverse combination of them ; for the colours 

 in a single flower are by no means numerous. One 

 plant will produce many flowers entirely red, some 

 of a clear yellow, and others variegated in different 

 degrees, with red, yellow, and occasionally with 

 cream colour. There is a purple and white variety 

 also, which possesses the same changeful propensity 

 in the disposition of its two colours, but we are not 

 aware of these colours ever being mingled with the 

 red and yellow ; and seedling plants most frequently 

 produce plain flowers only. 



The specific name, Jalapa, was adopted on the 

 supposition that the officinal Jalap was produced by 

 the Mirabilis. This error has been corrected by 

 Dr. Houston, who discovered, in the Spanish West 

 Indies, that the plant from which the Jalap of the 

 shops is prepared, is a species of convolvulus, and 

 is now known as the Convolvulus Jalapa. 



Bullock, when travelling in Mexico, in 1823, 

 observed that Jalap was chiefly produced in fhe 



