''Mirabilis macfarlanei'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the

four o'clock family Nyctaginaceae, the four o'clock family, is a family of around 33 genera and 290 species of flowering plants, widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, with a few representatives in temperate regions. The family has a unique fruit t ...

known by the common name MacFarlane's four o'clock. It is native to

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

and

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

in the United States, where it is only known from three river

canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

s. It faces a number of threats and is federally listed as a threatened species of the United States.

Description

This plant is a perennial herb forming rounded clumps of stems up to a meter long.''Mirabilis macfarlanei''.
Flora of North America. The plant grows from a taproot up to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) wide''Mirabilis macfarlanei''.
USDA NRCS Plant Guide. and which may grow eight feet (2.4 meters) deep.''Mirabilis macfarlanei''.
Center for Plant Conservation. It spreads via long

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s; what appear to be individual plants may be a number of clumps that arise from a single genetic individual. The purplish stems are lined with oval leaves up to 5 centimeters long by 5 wide. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

contains 3 to 7 flowers. The flower lacks a corolla of petals but has a calyx of magenta

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters wide.Yates, E. (2007)
MacFarlane’s Four-O’clock in Hells Canyon of the Snake River.
''Kalmiopsis'' vol 14 page 1. The flowers are pollinated by solitary bees and the

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...

species '' Bombus fervidus''.

Distribution and habitat

This plant grows in the canyons of the

Snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

Salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

, and

Imnaha River The Imnaha River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 3, 2011 tributary of the Snake River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Flowing generally east near the headwaters a ...

s in western Idaho and far eastern Oregon. The sandy soil overlies talus, and the often steep canyon slopes are easily eroded. The habitat is dry and relatively warm native

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

with some

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s.''Mirabilis macfarlanei''.
The Nature Conservancy. Common

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

es include bluebunch wheatgrass (''Agropyron spicatum''),

sand dropseed ''Sporobolus cryptandrus'' is a species of grass known as sand dropseed. It is native to North America, where it is widespread in southern Canada, most of the United States, and northern Mexico. Description ''Sporobolus cryptandrus'' is a peren ...

(''Sporobolus cryptandrus''), and pine bluegrass (''Poa secunda''). Other plants in the habitat include yellow alyssum (''Alyssum alyssoides''), yarrow (''Achillea millefolium''), tufted evening primrose (''Oenothera caespitosa''),

smooth sumac ''Rhus glabra'', the smooth sumac, (also known as white sumac, upland sumac, or scarlet sumac) is a species of sumac in the family Anacardiaceae, native to North America, from southern Quebec west to southern British Columbia in Canada, and south ...

(''Rhus glabra''),

rubber rabbitbrush ''Ericameria nauseosa'' (formerly ''Chrysothamnus nauseosus''), commonly known as Chamisa, rubber rabbitbrush, and gray rabbitbrush, is a shrub in the sunflower family (Aster) found in the arid regions of western North America. Two subspeci ...

(''Chrysothamnus nauseosus''), and hackberry (''Celtis reticulata'').

Conservation

The plant was federally listed as an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

in 1979. Conservation efforts and the discovery of additional populations led to a more optimistic outlook for the plant and its status was downlisted to threatened in 1996. By 2000 there were eleven populations.USFWS
''Mirabilis macfarlanei'' Five-year Review.
February 2009. Based on monitoring data collected on federal lands, the total population had neither increased nor decreased by 2008. It is difficult to count or estimate the number of plants because many clumps of stems can belong to one genetic individual. This species faces a number of threats. Most all of the populations are on land that has been heavily grazed by domestic cattle and

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

, and trampling and predation by the animals can adversely affect the plant. Grazing still occurs in some parts of the plant's range, and it generally grows in steeper spots that have been less impacted by grazing.Ongoing efforts to recover ''Mirabilis macfarlanei'', MacFarlane’s Four o’clock.
US Forest Service: Celebrating Wildflowers. The area is also browsed by

bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

, and mountain goats. The

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

is negatively impacted by

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

of plants, including

cheat grass ''Bromus tectorum'', known as downy brome, drooping brome or cheatgrass, is a winter annual grass native to Europe, southwestern Asia, and northern Africa, but has become invasive in many other areas. It now is present in most of Europe, southe ...

(''Bromus tectorum''),

St. John's wort ''Hypericum perforatum'', known as St. John's wort, is a flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae and the type species of the genus ''Hypericum''. Possibly a hybrid between '' H. maculatum'' and '' H. attenuatum'', the species can be found a ...

(''Hypericum perforatum''), field bindweed (''Convolvulus arvensis''), Dalmatian toadflax (''Linaria genistifolia'' ssp. ''dalmatica''), and

yellow starthistle ''Centaurea solstitialis'', the yellow star-thistle, is a species of thorny plant in the genus ''Centaurea'', which is part of the family Asteraceae. A winter annual, it is native to the Mediterranean Basin region and invasive in many other ...

(''Centaurea solstitialis''). The three-toed stem-boring weevil (''Mecinus janthinus'') has been released into four o'clock habitat that is infested with dalmatian toadflax to act as an agent of

biological pest control Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, such as insects, mites, weeds, and plant diseases, using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also invo ...

against the weed. While the four o'clock generally survives

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

due to its large underground rhizome, fires increase the number of non-native plants growing in the area.

Insecticide Insecticides are substances used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed to b ...

s may damage populations of important

pollinating Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...

insects. Off-road vehicles and trampling by

hikers Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

may damage plants.

Herbicide Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weedkillers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds.EPA. February 201Pesticides Industry. Sales and Usage 2006 and 2007: Market Estimates. Summary in press releasMain page fo ...

spraying has damaged populations. Insects have been noted to feed on the plant, including

spittlebugs The froghoppers, or the superfamily Cercopoidea, are a group of hemipteran insects in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha. Adults are capable of jumping many times their height and length, giving the group their common name, but they are best known ...

(''Aprophora'' and ''Philaenus'' sp.) and the small

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

'' Lithariapteryx abroniaeella''.

References

External links

USDA Plants Profile for ''Mirabilis macfarlanei''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q16985871 macfarlanei Flora of Idaho Flora of Oregon Endemic flora of the United States Endangered flora of the United States Taxa named by Lincoln Constance Plants described in 1936