140 THE LADIES' FLOWER-GARDEN 
without cause bring admiration to all that observe it ; for if tlie flowers be gathered and reserved in several 
papers, and compared with those flowers that will spring and flourish the next day, you shall easily perceive 
that one is not like another in colour, though you shall compare one hundred which flower one day, and another 
which flower the next day, and so on during the whole time of their flowering." A much better description of 
tliis plant is given by Parkinson, who observes that the flowers are sometimes red and yellow on one plant, and 
sometimes purplish, tiie colours being occasionally mixed and blended together. He also mentions that there are 
numerous varieties, some white, some yellow, and some purple, while the species is generally a deep rose, as 
shown in our plate. Gerard is mistaken in asserting that the flowers always close at night ; on the contrary, as 
Parkinson observes, the flowers frequently do not open till evening, and indeed in the West Indies, wliere the 
plant is common, it is called the four-o'clock plant, from its generally opening about that hour in the afternoon. 
The fact is that the flowers will not bear intense heat, and though under our cloudy skies they will generally 
remain open all day, they shrink from the powerful rays of the sun. The plant is a native of both the East and 
West Indies. It is not known when it was introduced, but it must have been early, as Gerard, writing in 
J. 596, speaks of having had it for several years in cultivation in his garden. Linnaeus changed Gerard's name of 
Mirabilis Peruviana for this plant, to M. Jalapa, because finding that the tubers possessed a purgative property, 
he thought they were used in preparing the drug called jalap. 
Seeds may be procured in any seed-shop ; and if sown on a hotbed in March, the plants may be turned into 
the open air in May or June, and will flower in July. If the seeds are sown in the open air in April, the 
plants will succeed equally well, but they will not flower before the latter end of August or September. We 
may here repeat what we have before suggested for the convenience of those who have no regular gardener, and 
consequently do not wish the trouble of a hotbed, that all annual plants raised on one may be purchased from the 
nurserymen. Our neighbour, Mr. Hopgood, of the Bayswater nursery, sells plants thus raised, ready for 
planting out into the open border, at from twopence to fourpence a dozen, according to their size and rarity ; 
and we have no doubt that this is about the usual price. Thus at a very trifling expense, and with very little 
trouble, a garden may be supplied in April or May with the choicest flowers (varying in kinds, according to the 
taste of the purchaser), which will continue to adorn it till they are destroyed by frost. 
OTHER KINDS OF MIRABILIS. 
M. DICHOTOMA, Lin. 
This species, which is not so hardy as the common kind, has smaller flowers, and they do not vary from their 
original purplish red. This is a native of Mexico and the West Indies. It was formerly supposed that the 
tubers of this plant produced the Jalap, the name of which is said to be derived from Xalapa, in Mexico ; but 
Linnseus, as we have before observed, thought that this drug* was made from the tubers of the common Marvel 
of Peru, and later botanists have attributed it to a species of Convolvulus or Ipomoea. 
M. LONGIFLORA, Lin. 
This species has long-tubed white flowers, that are very sweet-scented, and it is common in our gardens. Tlie 
stalks are hairy and clammy, and they are so weak that they would fall to the ground if not supported, Tliis 
species is a native of Mexico, and was introduced in 1759. 
