4 o'clock (Mirabilis jalapa)

 

This is a 4 o'clock growing at my back steps. These are old fashion plants that have been around for generations in the South. They have a large root and will generally come back from the root, but fear not because they reseed easily and next year it will just be a matter of weeding out the ones you do not want. This is a great plant for xeriscaping (Diane), and withstands heat like a trooper. It may wilt in the sun, but as the day moves into mid-afternoon the plant recovers and opens new fresh flowers. You can appreciate them better later anyway as the sun begins its decent.
The seed are black and oddly shaped (to me they look like a round light bulb with a part that sticks out like a socket). As a child I would collect huge handfuls of seed and Pretend cook with them. I would crack the seeds open (with my teeth) and remove the white powdery endosperm and pretend it was flour. Getting the "flour " out was the whole deal as I could never really get enough to amount to anything. Now I read that 4 o'clock seed are poisonous. I did not actually eat the endosperm, and it was bitter, so i was not anxious to chew up a lot of it, but I am left wondering just how poisonous. You would have to be a glutton for misery to eat a whole mouthful because they are so bitter. But here again is a clue: frequently bitter things are poisonous.