Mirabilis
multiflora Desert Four O'Clock This useful Venus
plant releases its scent at night and can have heart-shaped leaves. Navajos use the flowers for
dye, and Hopis make a tea out of the roots for pregnant women. Pueblo
Indians dried and smoked the leaves, which are supposed to be sedative.
Hopi medicine men also chew the large roots for purposes of divination.
It
is perennial in frost-free areas; otherwise, consider it an annual. It
forms large clumps with multiple stems, 1-3 feet around. The leaves are
purple when they first shoot and then turn green. The numerous purplish
pink flowers are 1-3 inches long and 1 inch wide. They bloom throughout
spring and summer, especially after a rain, and open in the afternoon or
on cloudy days. Their musky scent attracts hawkmoths, which drink
their nectar and pollinate the plant. Bees also collect the pollen.
This plant likes to grow in dry and rocky areas and at high elevations
in the Southwest, where it is native. Don't confuse this plant with the widely known Four O'Clock or Jalap;
that plant causes violent vomiting if ingested. This plant has no
known negative effects. Top
How to grow Desert Four O'Clocks: To break seed dormancy, put them in a small thermos filled with very hot water, and let them stay in there for 2 days. Then rinse and sow. Seeds can take several weeks to sprout. They like full sun and loose, dry, sandy soil--this is a good plant for xeriscaping. They do not like to sit in water or to grow in clay. If you live in an area with frost, consider them an annual or lift the roots in the fall like begonias. This is a taprooted plant, which means it gets usually one long main root; the deeper the soil, the bigger roots you will get and the healthier plant you will have. Harvest roots in the fall, when they are fattest, just after the first frost. The roots are brittle and have to be dug up carefully by hand rather than pulled or forked up. Wash them thoroughly and dry in the sun before storage. First-year roots can weigh up to one pound each (!). If you have luck growing this plant indoors, let me know.
General
growing info. Top
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Mirabilis multiflora Desert Four O'clock 10
seeds $4.00
Uses in Witchcraft & Magic:
Divination Venus Herb
© 2004, 2018 Harold A. Roth; No reproduction without permission
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