Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Mirabilis jalapa L.

Family

Nyctaginaceae

Common Names

beauty of the night, beauty-of-the-night, coat of many colours, false jalap, four o'clock, four o'clock flower, four o'clock plant, four-o'clock, garden four-o'clock, marvel of Peru, marvel-of-Peru

Origin

The exact origin of this species is obscure, but it is thought to be native to parts of tropical America.

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised, but with a scattered distribution in southern and eastern Australia. It is most common in south-eastern Queensland, but is also present in other parts of Queensland, in the coastal districts of northern and central New South Wales, on Lord Howe Island, Christmas Island and Norfolk Island, in Victoria and south-eastern South Australia and in the coastal districts of south-western Western Australia.

Also widely naturalised in other parts of the world, including the USA, New Zealand and many Pacific islands (i.e. the Cook Islands, the Galápagos Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, the Solomon Islands and Hawaii).

Notes

Four o'clock (Mirabilis jalapa) is regarded as a minor environmental weed or "sleeper weed" in many parts of Australia. This garden escape forms a tuberous root system and is currently mainly naturalised near habitation. It is a weed of gardens, roadsides, waste areas, disturbed sites and occasionally also urban bushland and riparian areas.

In Brisbane, in south-eastern Queensland, four o'clock (Mirabilis jalapa) is often a weed of waterways and riparian vegetation. It has also been recorded in conservation areas in suburban Sydney (i.e. Cooper Park) and Melbourne (i.e. Yarra Bend Park) and in remnant vegetation in Victoria Park in south-western Western Australia.