Mirabilis Bright Red

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Video: Mirabilis Bright Red

Video: Mirabilis Bright Red
Video: "Новинки ассортимента компании PanAmerican Seed сезон 2020-2021". День открытых дверей 2020. 2024, April
Mirabilis Bright Red
Mirabilis Bright Red
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Mirabilis bright red (lat. Mirabilis coccinea) - a herbaceous flowering perennial plant from the genus Mirabilis (lat. Mirabilis), included by botanists in the Niktaginaceae family (lat. Nyctaginaceae). This plant, very rarely found in nature, has joined the list of rare plants that are endangered from the face of our blue planet. Its bright red flowers, living in white light for only four hours, can still be found on the lands of the American state of California, in the northwestern part of Mexico, in the countries of Central Asia, and sometimes found in other places. The American Indians used the plant to treat skin conditions.

What's in your name

Plants of the Nyctaginaceae family tend to open their flower petals at night, catching the evening and early morning hours. For this behavior of plant flowers, the name of the family has a synonym - "Night flowers".

The nocturnal lifestyle of flowers is associated with their structure and shape. As a rule, these are bell-shaped or funnel-shaped flowers with a long tube. To get to the nectar of a flower, insects must have long proboscis, which nature has spared on, endowing insects with body parts. Such long proboscis are found only in some species of nocturnal butterflies. So the plants of the Niktaginov family, forced to adapt to the external conditions of life, began to open their bowels at night, exuding a sweet aroma that attracts pollinating butterflies.

The Latin name of the genus "Mirabilis" reflected the admiration of botanists for the picturesque plants of the genus. After all, the word "Mirabilis" in translation means "wonderful or amazing."

The specific epithet of the described species, "coccinea", meaning "bright red", is associated with the color of the flower petals that open up to the world in the early morning hours of the day.

In America, the plant has names such as "Red Four-O'clock" and "Scarlet Four-O'clock", which reflected the bright color of the flowers and their short life.

Description

Mirabilis coccinea (Mirabilis bright red), as a rule, grows on poor rocky soils of mountain slopes, and therefore the plant does not differ in splendor and density of stems and leaves. The height of thin and weak spindle-shaped stems reaches from 60 to 120 centimeters. The stems can be erect or ascending, the surface of the stems is glabrous and gray-gray.

Rare green leaves of a linear shape, sessile, with a bare surface.

The perennial Mirabilis blooms bright red from May to August, opening its bright petals from five to eight in the morning. The cup-shaped bracts contain from one to three flowers and protect their funnel-shaped tubes from adversity. The flower color can be dark pink, bright red or carmine red. Stamens on long legs protrude from the funnel-shaped tube. Flowers live only three to four hours.

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The fruit is a club-shaped capsule with a rough, wrinkled surface.

Healing abilities

American literature mentions the use of the Scarlet Four-O'clock plant by the Indians in the treatment of skin diseases and venereal diseases.

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