Minnesota Seasons - narrow-leaved four o’clock


narrow-leaved four o’clock				No Image Available
Mirabilis linearis

Taxonomy	Family:	Nyctaginaceae (four o’clock)
	Tribe:	Nyctagineae

Nativity	Native
Status
Habitat	Dry. Prairies, railroad tracks, disturbed areas.
Flowering	May to August
Flower Color	Pale pink to purple
Height	1′ to 3½′

Identification	This is an erect, perennial herb rising from a thick, dark, fleshy or woody, taproot. The stems are usually hairless or nearly hairless below the inflorescence, and covered with a whitish, waxy coating. They are usually erect or curve upward from the base, occasionally they recline on the ground with the tips ascending. The leaves are opposite, untoothed, long and narrow, 1″ to 4½″ long and rarely as much as ⅜″ wide, straight, with more or less parallel sides, like a blade of grass. They narrow to a stalk-like base but are attached to the stem without a differentiated leaf stalk. They are spreading or strongly ascending at a 5° to 80° angle. The upper surface is green to blue-gray and covered with a whitish, waxy coating. They are thick, juicy, and fleshy, and become wrinkled when they age. The inflorescence is single branched clusters at the end of each stem branch and in the leaf axils. The clusters appear at the end of ⅛″ to ½″ long hairy stalks. The clusters have 3 flowers each and are themselves hairy. The flowers are ¼″ to ½″ wide. They have little or no fragrance. There are 5 pale pink to purple petal-like sepals. The sepals are fused at the base forming a tube, then flare outward. There are 5 hairy bracts, ⅛″ to ¼″ long, at the base of the flower that are fused into a pale green, sometimes tinged with purple, narrowly to widely bell-shaped cup. The flowers open in the late afternoon, giving this plant its common name, remain open all night, and close in the morning. The fruit is a one-seeded achene. It is subtended by the persistent, bell-shaped fused bracts that have increased in size as the fruit developed, becoming ⅓″ to ½″ long.

Similar Species	This plant is distinguished from other Mirabilis species in Minnesota be the narrow leaves less than ⅜″ wide. Hairy four o’clock (Mirabilis hirsuta) has a hairy stem. The leaves are on short leaf stalks, are hairy, narrow and lance-shaped. There are no flower clusters at the end of the stems. Heart-leaved four o’clock (Mirabilis nyctaginea) has broad, egg-shaped to round lance-shaped leaves, and small flowers with much shorter tubes.

Range			Sources: 2, 3, 5.

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Synonyms	Allionia decumbens Allionia gausapoides Allionia linearis Calymenia decumbens Mirabilis decumbens Mirabilis diffusa Mirabilis gausapoides Mirabilis hirsuta var. linearis Mirabilis lanceolata Mirabilis linearis var. subhispida Oxybaphus angustifolius Oxybaphus decumbens Oxybaphus diffusus Oxybaphus gausapoides Oxybaphus lanceolatus Oxybaphus linearis Oxybaphus linearis var. subhispidus

Common Names	linearleaf four-o’clock narrow-leaf four-o’clock narrowleaf four o clock narrowleaf four o’clock narrowleaf four-o’clock narrow-leaved umbrella-wort