One of Oregon's rarest wildflowers, this species known only in the vicinity of the Snake and Imnaha river canyons. It is believed to be on the brink of extinction. This Mirabilis grows on steep, sunny slopes of talus covered by a thin layer of soil.
Mirabilis macfarlanei is a perennial arising from a deep-seated root which forms a clump with many branches. The shiny, succulent, nearly-sessile leaves are opposite. Those at the base broadly ovate and rounded at the tip, two to three inches long; the upper ones are pointed and smaller. A purplish-colored whorl of bracts at the tip of the stem, or in leaf axils, encloses several flower buds which seem to bloom only one or two at a time. The flower is a rich magenta, very showy funnel-like blossoms of sepals, three-quarters to one inch in length; there are no true petals. The fruits, about one-third of an inch long, are elliptical in shape, circular in cross section, have a wrinkled surface, and are obscurely ten-ribbed. It blooms in May and early June.
This page last modified: August 8, 1995.
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