Desert wishbone-bush facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Desert wishbone-bush
Mirabilis laevis var. crassifolia
Scientific classification
Genus:	Mirabilis
Species:	laevis

Mirabilis laevis, also called the desert wishbone-bush, is a cool flowering plant. It belongs to the four o'clock family. You can find it growing in the Southwestern United States and parts of northwest Mexico.

What is the Desert Wishbone-Bush?

The Mirabilis laevis plant is special because it now includes what people used to call the wishbone bush. This plant grows a lot in the California chaparral areas. Scientists used to think these were different plants. But now, they know they are all part of the same Mirabilis laevis family. They are just slightly different types, called varieties.

Different Types of Wishbone-Bush

There are a few different types, or varieties, of Mirabilis laevis. Each one grows in slightly different places.

• Mirabilis laevis var. crassifolia is a type found in the California chaparral and woodlands. You can see it in California and Baja California, which is in Mexico. It also grows on Cedros Island. This variety is also found in the Southern California Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada foothills. It likes the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and the White Mountains too. You can also spot it in the Inyo Mountains.

• Mirabilis laevis var. retrorsa grows in the White and Inyo Mountains. It is also found in Nevada and Oregon. This type stretches east to Utah and south into Arizona and northwest Mexico.

• Mirabilis laevis var. villosa is another variety. It grows in many of the same places as Mirabilis laevis var. retrorsa.