Mirabilis longiflora - seeds

This mysterious Mirabilis longiflora from Mexico and the southern United States is the queen of the night in a scented garden. This perennial plant for dry areas opens white trumpets during summer nights, with a tube reaching 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6in) long, displaying magenta red stamens, curled like butterfly proboscis, emerging from the heart of the dark magenta corolla. It is a spreading, bushy plant, covered with blue-green heart-shaped leaves. It needs well-drained, preferably limestone soil, moist in summer but dry in winter to withstand the cold, and plenty of sunlight.

This plant, like its cousin the marvel of Peru (Mirabilis jalapa), belongs to the nyctaginaceae family and is found in the wild in the desert areas of Western North America, and Mexico. It grows at altitude in limestone soil, often on the foothills of rocky canyons not far from the edge of watercourses, which provide it with some water in summer. This herbaceous perennial plant develops from a tuberous root. It forms a clump of stems and somewhat untidy foliage, with a spreading and sprawling habit, sometimes almost creeping. It reaches 80 cm (32in) to 1 m (3ft) high under optimal conditions, with a spread of 1 m (3ft) starting from around May. Its summer flowering is adapted to pollination by moths, its flowers have a long, slender tube widening into a funnel with a diameter of 3 to 4 cm (1 to 2in). They are white, revealing a magenta throat from which prominent stamens emerge in the same colour, exceeding the corolla by 5 cm (2in) and covered in orange pollen. They open in the evening and close in the morning, filling the air with a pleasant fragrance. The stems are covered with heart-shaped, fairly dark, slightly sticky green leaves with bluish hues. The vegetation disappears in autumn.