Longlobe Four O'clock

Stems decumbent to erect, usually forming leafy clumps, 3-10 dm, herbaceous or suffrutescent basally, usually glandular-viscid, more densely so distally. Leaves spreading or ascending; petiole 0.1-2.2(-5) cm; blade broadly deltate or ovate, 2-5(-8) × 1.7-7(-12) cm, fleshy to slightly succulent, base rounded to cordate, apex acute (rounded), glabrate to glandular-villous. Inflorescences usually thyrselike, often narrow; involucres 7-16 mm, lobes narrowly lance-oblong, base 30-50% of height. Flowers 1 per involucre; perianth usually white (pale pink), 1.3-1.8 cm. Fruits dull reddish brown to almost black, rarely with 10 inconspicuous, paler lines, sometimes with several very shallow grooves, broadly ovoid, 4-6 mm, surfaces smooth or very slightly rugose.

Ariz., Calif.; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur).

Flowering spring, occasionally other seasons.

Sands and rocks on slopes, cliffs, and canyon sides in open arid and semiarid areas; 0-400(-900)m.

Hesperonia tenuiloba (S. Watson) Standley

Hesperonia tenuiloba (S. Wats.) Standley, Contr. U. S. Nat
Herb. 12: 363. 1909.
Mirabilis tenuiloba S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 17: 375. 1882.
Plants erect, very stout, 3-6 dm. high, suffrutescent at the base, much branched, the branches very stout, whitish, densely short-villous or puberulent and viscid, the internodes mostly longer than the leaves, the nodes swollen; petioles stout, 2-7 mm. long, the upper blades subsessile; leaf -blades orbicular-deltoid, broadly deltoid-ovate, or rhombic-ovate, 2.5-4 cm. long, 1.3-3.5 cm. wide, subcordate or rounded at the base, acute or attenuate at the apex or the lower blades rarely obtuse, thick and fleshy, bright-green, densely viscidpuberulent, the upper leaves only slightly smaller than the lower; peduncles 2 mm, long or shorter, axillary, nearly concealed by the subtending leaves; involucre 10-13 mm. long, narrowly campanulate, densely short-villous and very viscid, the lobes slightly unequal, slightly exceeding the tube, narrowly lance-oblong, acute or attenuate; perianth 12-15 mm. long 235
(white ?), glandular-puberulent outside; stamens equaling the perianth; fruit oval in outline, 5 mm. long, 3,5 mm. in diameter, rounded at both ends, dark-brown, smooth.
Type locality: San Bernardino County, California.
^ Distribution: In dry, sandy soil, Colorado Desert of southern California and northern I^ower California.

Hesperonia tenuiloba (S. Wats.) Standley, Contr. U. S. Nat
Herb. 12: 363. 1909.
Mirabilis tenuiloba S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 17: 375. 1882.
Plants erect, very stout, 3-6 dm. high, suffrutescent at the base, much branched, the branches very stout, whitish, densely short-villous or puberulent and viscid, the internodes mostly longer than the leaves, the nodes swollen; petioles stout, 2-7 mm. long, the upper blades subsessile; leaf-blades orbiculardeltoid, broadly deltoid-ovate, or rhombic-ovate, 2.5-4 cm. long, 1.3-3.5 cm. wide, subcordate or rounded at the base, acute or attenuate at the apex or the lower blades rarely obtuse, thick and fleshy, bright-green, densely viscidpuberulent, the upper leaves only slightly smaller than the lower; peduncles 2 mm. long or shorter, axillary, nearly concealed by the subtending leaves; involucre 10-13 mm. long, narrowly campanulate, densely short-villous and very viscid, the lobes slightly unequal, slightly exceeding the tube, narrowly lance-oblong, acute or attenuate; perianth 12-15 mm. long (white ?), glandular-puberulent outside; stamens equaling the perianth; fruit oval in outline, 5 mm. long, 3.5 mm. in diameter, rounded at both ends, dark-brown, smooth.
Type locality: San Bernardino County, California.
Distribution: In dry, sandy soil, Colorado Desert of southern California and northern Lower California.

Mirabilis tenuiloba common names longlobe four o'clock or maravilla, is a plant species native to the south-western United States and north-eastern Mexico. It has been reported from Baja California, Baja California Sur, southern California (Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Imperial Counties) and Arizona (Pima and Yuma Counties).

Mirabilis tenuiloba is a perennial herb up to 100 cm tall, usually with many glandular hairs. Leaves are broadly egg-shaped, up to 8 cm long and 12 cm across. Flowers are trumpet-shaped or bell-shaped, white or pale pink, up to 18 mm long. Fruits are egg-shaped, dark red-brown, up to 6 mm long.