[Illustration: SMALL-FLOWERED FOUR-O’CLOCK PINK FOUR-O’CLOCK]
Leaves opposite or alternate; flowers often surrounded by colored
bracts; calyx tubular, often petal-like; petals absent; stamens 1 to
many; ovary 1-celled.
Gray’s Umbrella-Wort. Pink Four-O’clock (_Allionia grayana_) has
delicate pink flowers which have no petals, but the 5 united sepals are
petal-like in appearance. The flowers are spreading or funnel-shaped and
open in the afternoon. Several flowers are borne together and are
surrounded at their bases by 5 short united floral leaves, forming a
pale green veiny involucre which is sometimes mistaken for the flower.
The clusters terminate the branches on a widely spreading plant about 2
ft. high.
Small-Flowered Four-O’clock (_Allionia incarnata_) is very abundant in
Southwestern Texas to Arizona and South America. It forms a low,
spreading plant, which is profusely covered with small pink blooms less
than half an inch broad.
Narrow-Leaved Sand-Verbena (_Abronia angustifolia_) is a low plant with
a dense head of pink flowers which are so fragrant that one plant will
perfume the air for some distance. In favorable seasons the hills around
El Paso are pink with the lovely blooms. It is called sand-verbena
because of the verbena-like clusters.
[Illustration: DEVIL’S BOUQUET ANGEL’S TRUMPET]
Devil’s Bouquet (_Nyctaginia capitata_) is also called skunk flower
because of its heavy, disagreeable odor. The head-like clusters of
scarlet flowers are very showy, being 2-3 in. broad. The 5-lobed flowers
resemble those of the umbrella-worts and likewise open in the
afternoons. The plants are low and scattered, but are quite common from
Central and Southern Texas to Mexico and New Mexico from May to October.
Angel’s Trumpet (_Acleisanthes longiflora_) grows from long spreading
stems with the long-tubed flowers sharply erect. The flowers are over an
inch broad with a tube 4-6 in. long. It is most abundant in the spring,
but may be found until October in the same range as the devil’s bouquet.
Jimson-weed (_Datura_) is also called angel’s trumpet.
Bougainvillea is a member of this family frequently cultivated in the
southern part of the state. The common four-o’clock is often seen in
gardens and in some places has escaped cultivation.