Species
+

Mirabilis jalapa L.

Beauty of the Night, Floranarabu, Four o'clock, Four-o'clock

Climate known 67 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Mirabilis jalapa, 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 is the state capital of Veracruz in Mexico. Mirabilis jalapa is believed to have been cultivated by the Aztecs for medicinal and ornamental purposes.

Text from Wikipedia, “Mirabilis jalapa”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

Family
Nyctaginaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +8
Wild records
321 in range· 117 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
May, mean day; nights 17 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
849mm/yr
8 wet months · peak Jul 151 mm (CHELSA)
Light
29–44DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to October in the northern hemisphere (June to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 849 mm a year, wettest July at 151 mm, driest February at 15 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 44 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -0.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Jalapa congesta Moench; Jalapa dichotoma (L.) Crantz; Jalapa officinalis Crantz; Jalapa officinalis Garsault; Jalapa officinarum Martyn and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to October in the northern hemisphere (June to October at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (649 mm of 849 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.2 °C against a yearly mean of 18.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 849 mm a year, wettest July at 151 mm, driest February at 15 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

849 mm a year at the habitat, 649 mm of it June to October. Wettest month July at 151 mm, driest February at 15 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 521 mm to 1795 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 44 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 44 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -0.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -0.5 °C, the absolute minimum -5.9 °C, about 5 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 7.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells 4.7 °C to 18.3 °C), warmest day 28.6 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -0.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 20 °C in Jan to 29 °C in May; mean night from 7 °C in Jan to 18 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 849 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 238 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -5.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost32.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)-5.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 29–44RH 54–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 238 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C20 / 17–2722 / 18–2924 / 22–3027 / 23–3229 / 23–3327 / 22–3326 / 21–3426 / 21–3525 / 20–3125 / 20–2822 / 20–2821 / 17–27
Night °C7 / 5–188 / 5–1911 / 7–2015 / 9–2217 / 10–2318 / 11–2417 / 11–2417 / 11–2417 / 11–2315 / 9–2211 / 7–208 / 5–19
Rain mm22 / 9–5815 / 8–5915 / 6–6831 / 11–6975 / 30–127137 / 73–293151 / 57–286143 / 52–277133 / 75–32685 / 40–19027 / 10–8115 / 5–63
DLI30 / 19–3436 / 23–3941 / 29–4544 / 35–4842 / 37–4740 / 35–4339 / 36–4339 / 35–4134 / 31–3632 / 26–3531 / 20–3429 / 17–32
RH %56 / 51–6455 / 49–6355 / 46–6054 / 46–6058 / 49–6360 / 56–6762 / 57–6762 / 55–6763 / 57–6960 / 57–6758 / 53–6557 / 51–65

Each figure is the median across the 238 grid cells holding the 311 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1380:1592 (20.975, -100.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -5.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -0.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 238 distinct grid cells holding the 311 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1380:1592 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 21.00_-100.625, lapse-corrected +146 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2188 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua· introduced: Great Britain, Sweden, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Baleares, France, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Romania, South European Russia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Azores, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Madeira, Benin, Gambia, The, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Cameroon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Namibia, Free State, Northern Provinces, Ascension, St.Helena, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Transcaucasus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China Southeast, Japan, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Laccadive Is., Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Christmas I., Solomon Is., Norfolk Is., New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Fiji, Gilbert Is., Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tokelau-Manihiki, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Easter Is., Marquesas, Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Hawaii, Illinois, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, District of Columbia, Costa Rica, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Galápagos, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Desventurados Is., Juan Fernández Is., Paraguay, Uruguay, Tristan da Cunha
Kew's description“perennial” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker19.347, -99.118 · in the densest population, 156 records (49% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 321 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 117 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 15 km away. 1568 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 10 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 321 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Mirabilis jalapaMirabilis jalapaMirabilis jalapaMirabilis jalapaMirabilis jalapaMirabilis jalapaMirabilis jalapaMirabilis jalapa

Photographs: (c) Ricard Busquets Reverte, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) sdash, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Mmatjie Mashao, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (3); (c) Felipe Horton, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Mirabilis jalapa, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antibacterial Activity of Some Selected Indian Medicinal Flora
Rathish Nair, Tamanna Kalariya, Sumitra Chanda (2005) · DergiPark (Istanbul University)
Phytoremediation of petroleum contaminated soils by Mirabilis Jalapa L. in a greenhouse plot experiment
Shengwei Peng, Qixing Zhou, Zhang Cai, Zhineng Zhang (2009) · Journal of Hazardous Materials
Isolation and characterization of a novel class of plant antimicrobial peptides form Mirabilis jalapa L. seeds.
Bruno P.A. Cammue, M F De Bolle, Franky R. G. Terras, Paul Proost (1992) · Journal of Biological Chemistry
Elucidation of the first committed step in betalain biosynthesis enables the heterologous engineering of betalain pigments in plants
Guy Polturak, Dario Breitel, Noam Grossman, Alejandro Sarrion‐Perdigones (2015) · New Phytologist
Effector Specialization in a Lineage of the Irish Potato Famine Pathogen
Suomeng Dong, Remco Stam, Liliana M. Cano, Jing Song (2014) · Science
Plantas utilizadas na medicina popular brasileira com potencial atividade antifúngica
Raquel Fenner, Andresa Heemann Betti, Lilian Auler Mentz, Stela Maris Kuze Rates (2006) · Revista Brasileira De Ciencias Farmaceuticas
Transcriptome and Metabolic Profiling Provides Insights into Betalain Biosynthesis and Evolution in Mirabilis jalapa
Guy Polturak, Uwe Heinig, Noam Grossman, Maor Battat (2017) · Molecular Plant
Antimicrobial peptides fromMirabilis jalapa andAmaranthus caudatus: expression, processing, localization and biological activity in transgenic tobacco
Miguel F. C. De Bolle, Rupert W. Osborn, Inge J.W.M. Goderis, L. Noé (1996) · Plant Molecular Biology
Experimental diabetes treated with trigonelline: effect on β cell and pancreatic oxidative parameters
Jiyin Zhou, Shiwen Zhou, Sheng-Ya Zeng (2011) · Fundamental and Clinical Pharmacology
Preparation of gold nanoparticles from Mirabilis jalapa flowers.
Padma S. Vankar, Dhara Bajpai (2010) · PubMed

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 128 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.