WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Mirabilis means “astonishing, marvelous” and this spectacular flower lives up to its name. Clusters of long, tubular flowers have spreading, white petals and twisting, red stamens that extend far beyond the rosy-red throat. The sweet fragrance attracts hawk moths for night pollination.

FLOWERS: July–September. Clusters of tubular, funnel-shaped flowers 3–6-inches long (8–15 cm), have 5 united petals that flair open with slightly scalloped lobes and a red throat. 5 reddish-purple filaments with yellow anthers extend far outside the throat, often twisting. The deep throat requires large, moths with long tongues to reach the nectaries, which means the stamens must be long enough to dust pollen on the hovering insects.

LEAVES: Opposite. Midstem leaves have stems (petioles) 3/4–2 3/8-inches long (2–6 cm); blades oval, triangular, to heart-shaped, 2–5 1/2-inches long (5–14 cm), 1 1/8–3-inches wide (3–8 cm).

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, washes, canyons, roadsides; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,900–8,200 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Angel Trumpets, Acleisanthes longiflora, in so. NM, has single flowers, not clusters, and white anthers. Pale Trumpets, Ipomopsis longiflora, in similar habitats nearly statewide, has white to pale-blue flowers with the stamens barely extending beyond the throat and alternate leaves with very narrow lobes.

NM COUNTIES: SW NM in low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats:  Bernalillo, Catron, Dona Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, Sierra, Socorro, Sandoval.