Latin mirabilis—wonderful, to be admired.
Annual or perennial herbs, roots mostly tuberous. Leaves opposite, stalked towards base of shoots, more or less stalkless near the tips of the shoots. Flowers bisexual in axillary clusters with, at their base, a cluster of 5 sepal-like trumpet-shaped bracts. Perianth 5-lobed, tubular to funnel-shaped, contracted above the ovary. Stamens 3-5, unequal. Fruit roundish, mostly angled or ribbed.
Seed as annuals or occasionally as tubers.
Trumpet shaped multi-coloured scented flowers opening late in the day.
About 60 species from C and S America and W North America.
Source: (1997). Nyctaginaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
