Alas-kuwatro
Mirabilis jalapa · Four o'clock flower
- Names in the book
- Maravillas, Suspiros, Sp.-Fil.; Gilalas, Tag.; Four O’Clock, Marvel of Peru, Eng.
- Colours
- flowermagenta, yellow, white
- Native range
- Mexico to Peru
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Common in gardens.
- Family
- Nyctaginaceae, filed in the book under Nyctaginaceæ
- Printed as
- Mirabilis Jalapa, L. (M. longiflora, Blanco.)
- Sources
- Page 199 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
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 (or Xalapa) is the state capital of Veracruz in Mexico. Mirabilis jalapa is believed to have been cultivated by the Aztecs for medicinal and ornamental purposes. The flowers usually open from late afternoon or at dusk (namely between 4 and 8 o'clock), giving rise to one of its common names. The flowers then produce a strong, sweet fragrance throughout the night, then close in the morning. New flowers open the following day.
Excerpt from “Mirabilis jalapa” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 129 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 27 provinces, most often Laguna (13), Rizal (12), Metropolitan Manila (10), Negros Occidental (7), Davao Oriental (6), Cebu (5), Batangas (4), Davao del Sur (4), and 19 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
The root is purgative and possesses the same active principles, the same properties and is given in the same dose as jalap. According to the experience of Shoolbred, Hunter, W. O’Shaughnessy and Ainslie, its purgative action is weak and uncertain and therefore unworthy of use as a substitute for jalap. The bruised leaves are used as poultices to hasten suppuration, but according to Waring they are capable of causing dermatitis.
Botanical description
The flowers open toward the end of the day and close again at sunrise. The root is blackish and spindle-shaped. The stem smooth, branches forked. Leaves opposite, lanceolate-cordate, acute, somewhat downy along the borders and the upper surface. Petioles short. Flowers fragrant, almost constantly blooming, of different colors even in the same plant, terminal, in umbels. Pedicels very short. Calyx persistent, 5-toothed. Corolla superior, very long, its tube downy, funnel-form, limb 5-lobed. Stamens 5, longer than the corolla. Style longer than the stamens. Stigma globose. Nut small, black, globose, many-ribbed, full of a mealy substance.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Evaluating the Aphrodisiac Potential of Mirabilis jalapa L. Root Extract: Phytochemical Profiling and In Silico, In Vitro, and In Vivo Assessments in Normal Male Rats
- Phytoremediation of cadmium contaminated alkaline soil using the ornamental hyperaccumulator Mirabilis jalapa L. enhanced by double harvesting: a field study
- Phytochemical-Mediated Synthesis and Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles Using Mirabilis jalapa Leaf Extract and Their Antibacterial