Marvel-of-peru | Four o'clock Plants (Mirabilis jalapa) හෙන්දිරික්කා

The common name of four o’clocks was given to Mirabilis jalapa because the flowers of this plant do not open until late in the day. This old-fashioned garden ornamental in the four-o’clock family (Nyctaginaceae) is a tender perennial hardy in Zones 7-10, generally grown as an annual throughout most of the US. Native to tropical South America in the Andes – and also sometimes called Marvel of Peru – it is the most commonly grown ornamental species of Mirabilis. Discovered by Europeans in 1540, the root was used by indigenous peoples for medicinal purposes, as a hallucinogen, and as a purported aphrodisiac, while the flowers produce an edible red dye for coloring food.

Mirabilis jalapa, හෙන්දිරික්කා the marvel of Peru or four o’clock flower, is the most commonly grown ornamental species of Mirabilis plant, and is available in a range of colors. Mirabilis in Latin means wonderful and Jalapa (or Xalapa) is the state capital of Veracruz in México. Mirabilis jalapa was cultivated by the Aztecs for medicinal and ornamental purposes.

The flowers usually open from late afternoon or at dusk (namely between 4 and 8 o’clock), giving rise to one of its common names. Flowers then produce a strong, sweet-smelling fragrance throughout the night, then close for good in the morning. New flowers open the following day. It arrived in Europe in 1525. Today, it is common in many tropical regions and is also valued in Europe as a (not hardy) ornamental plant. It is the children’s state flower of Connecticut under the name of Michaela Petit’s Four O’Clocks.

It is a perennial, herbaceous, bushy plant that reaches stature heights of mostly 1 meter, rarely up to 2 meters, in height. It may also be grown as an annual, especially in the temperate zone. The single-seeded fruits are spherical, wrinkled and black upon maturity, having started out greenish-yellow. The stems are thick, full, quadrangular with many ramifications and rooting at the nodes. The posture is often prostrate.

A curious aspect of M. jalapa is that flowers with different colors grow simultaneously on the same plant. Additionally, an individual flower can be splashed with different colors. Flower patterns are referred to as sectors (whole sections of flower), flakes (stripes of varying length), and spots. A single flower can be plain yellow, red, magenta, pink, or white, or have a combination of sectors, flakes, and spots. Furthermore, different combinations of flowers and patterns can occur on different flowers of the same plant.

The shrub-like, erect and spreading, multi-branched plants grow 2-3 feet tall and wide. The weak and brittle stems break easily and flop over if not supported. They are light or bright green but may have a yellow or pink hue. The opposite, ovate, bright green leaves are up to 4 inches long with a pointed end.
They are triangular to egg-shaped to lance-shaped, with smooth (non-toothed) edges. The plants produce elongated, dark-colored, swollen to tuberous taproots that can be a foot or more long and weigh up to 40 pounds in climates where they are perennial.
Flowers are produced in bright and pastel shades of white, yellow, pink, magenta, and red. Flowers of different colors can be found on the same plant – either simultaneously or at different times – and flowers may even be bicolored, speckled, or variegated.

Four o’clocks come in a variety of shades and colors
They bloom in summer through fall and may have a strong, sweet-smelling fragrance when open (but sometimes have no noticeable scent). Flowers are borne in terminal or axillary clusters of one to several flowers. The colorful, trumpet-shaped portion of the flower is the pigmented calyx or partially fused sepals; the flowers actually have no petals. Each flower is about two inches long and abruptly flares out to about an inch across at the end with five lobes. These tubular flowers open late in the day or in the evening (although they will open earlier open earlier on rainy or very cloudy afternoons) as they are pollinated by sphinx moths (family Sphingidae) and other nocturnal pollinators with long tongues. Hummingbirds and butterflies are also attracted to the flowers.
The flowers wilt by the following morning and those faded flowers are not self-shedding, remaining on the plant – so some people may not like the appearance.

There are some cultivars and hybrids of four o’clocks, although they are often offered just as ”Four O’Clocks”.

‘Broken Colors’ – has flowers splashed or marbled in orangey-red
‘Jingles’ is a series with small, multi-colored flowers.
The related M. longiflora has white flowers with an orange-blossom scent.