Plant Image
Flowers


Yavapai County Native & Naturalized Plants

Mirabilis albida - white four o'clock

Synonyms: Allionia (7 varieties), Mirabilis (10 varieties), Oxybaphus (5 varieties)
Other Common Names: mountain four-o'clock, pale umbrella-wort
Plant Form: Forb or Subshrub

Family: Nyctaginaceae


   
 
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Leaves
Patrick Alexander @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA)
Plant
University of Arizona Herbarium, Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)
Forb Plant Description

Origin: Native   Life Cycle: Perennial
General Desc: Perennial herb, 2-1/2 to 5 feet tall; stems erect to decumbent (trailing with tip ascending), branching; herbage often hairy, especially the upper portions of the plant.
Identification notes: Typically well branched, stems erect to trailing; leaves opposite, narrow, oval or triangular, hairy or not; whorl of bracts below flowers green or blushed with red, covered with light hairs, flowers terminal or in leaf axils; fruits hairy, 5-ribbed.
Height: 2-1/2 to 5 feet


Habitat

Habitat Description: Found in dry meadows, sandy prairies, hillsides, rocky soils, and often on slopes.
Plant Communities: Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Montane Conifer Forest
Elevation: 3500 - 6500 feet


Flower Characteristics

Color: White to pink or purple     Shape: Regular in elongated clusters     Tubular: Y     Flowering Period: May - Oct
Description: White to pink or purple, in clusters at end of stem, or occasionally solitary in leaf axils, each cluster of 2 to 3 flowers is enclosed by a bell-shaped involucre (cup-like whorl of bracts), on hairy stalks, 1/16 to 1 inch long; 5 stamens.


Leaf and Stem Characteristics

Leaf Color: Green to blue-gray     Leaf Type: Simple     Leaf Shape: Triangular     Leaf Margin: Smooth     Leaf Attachment: Opposite     Leaves Clasp: N
Hairs: Leaves and stems     Spines: N
Leaf Description: Opposite and stalkless or on stalks up to 1-1/2 inches long; blades narrow to oval or triangular, 1/2 to 4 inches long, green to glaucous (waxy) blue-gray, smooth to hairy, thin and fleshy to thick and leathery, 2 per stem node.


Fruit and Seed Characteristics

Fruit Color: Brown to dark brown   
Fruit Type: Achene
Fruit Notes: Achenes 1/4 inch long, obovoid (egg-shaped, broader at tip) with 5 longitudinal ribs, surface brown to dark brown with pale tan, brown, or dark brown ribs, hairy, and usually wrinkled or covered with warts; fruit is dry but does not split open when ripe.


  Arizona Cooperative Extension
Yavapai County
840 Rodeo Dr #C
Prescott, AZ 86305
(928) 445-6590
Version 8.0  
http://cales.arizona.edu/yavapaiplants/SpeciesDetailForb.php  
Last Updated: Dec 13, 2022
Content Questions/Comments: Email Matt Halldorson  
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