Subordinate Taxa
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Mirabilis L., Sp. Pl. 177 (1753)
Vernacular Name(s):
Marvel of Peru; Umbrellawort
 Description

Herbs with roots often thickened and tuberous, not spiny. Stems ± swollen at nodes. Lvs opposite, petiolate or sessile. Fls ☿, 1-many in ± dense corymbose cymes with very short pedicels; bracts united into a 4–5-lobed calyx-like involucre, sometimes enlarged at fruiting. Perianth most colours except blue; tube elongated, constricted just above ovary; limb spreading, salverform to campanulate. Stamens 3–5–(8), free or connate at base, unequal, = perianth or exserted. Ovary subsessile; style long, filiform; stigma capitate or very shortly lobed, exserted. Anthocarp terete to 5-angled, hard, not viscid, adherent to testa of seed and ± invested in persistent bracts.

[From: Webb et al. (1988) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4.]

 Biostatus
Exotic
Number of species in New Zealand within Mirabilis L.
CategoryNumber
Exotic: Fully Naturalised1
Total1
 Bibliography
Linnaeus, C. 1753: Species Plantarum. Impensis Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm.
Mabberley, D.J. 2008: Mabberley's plant book, a portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses. Edition 3. Cambridge University Press.