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Moving into a house with a garden last year, I collected black-pepper-like seeds from a dried out small shrub.

Putting two of them in a seeding pot resulted in having 2 small shrubs with relatively big green leaves and white trumpet flowers. The flowers remind me of various morning glory-kinds I have seen, but none of those had this kind of leaves.

The dimensions are 40-50cm large and 30-40cm high.

Click the image to enlarge

J. Musser
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Patrick B.
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  • what do the flower buds look like? Bell shaped? – kevinskio Jul 05 '12 at 19:21
  • As I wrote in my description, trumpet. – Patrick B. Jul 05 '12 at 20:11
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    It looks a lot like [Mirabilis jalapa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabilis_jalapa) (four o'clock flower). Almost everything fits: leaves, plant size, plant form, flower bud shape, and odd black-pepper-like fruit. But the flower form is wrong. Four o'clocks have petunia like flowers: pointed petals which are often crinkled and notched. The nearly circular outline is not like a four o'clock. – Eric Nitardy Jul 06 '12 at 02:59
  • @EricNitardy you're right, it is Mirabilis jalapa, please make an answer. I uploaded a wrong image of the flower and haven't a right one with me now. Sorry. – Patrick B. Jul 06 '12 at 07:15
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    Maybe a species of Datura: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datura – Korinna Jul 06 '12 at 07:49
  • Well I'm relieved its Mirabilis, puzzling over it for ages - that's what the whole plant looked like to me, but the flower shown (now removed) wasn't right. – Bamboo Jul 06 '12 at 16:44
  • As I said @EricNitardy is right. Additionally I realized that I haven't made a photo the flower yet. The flower I saw is not there anymore (heavy rain made it shrink together). I'll have to wait for another one.... – Patrick B. Jul 06 '12 at 20:39
  • @Korinna, I thought exactly the same. – Stephane Rolland Aug 13 '12 at 09:32
  • @StephaneRolland, it is definitely not Datura. – Patrick B. Aug 13 '12 at 15:47
  • @EricNitardy would you mind making an answer of your comment? – Patrick B. Jul 02 '13 at 10:10

2 Answers2

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This is Four o' clock flower, Mirabilis jalapa. It is native to tropical South America, and perennializes in frost free areas, grown as an ornamental annual elsewhere. The large, dark, round seeds fit your description "black-pepper-like". See pictures below:

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J. Musser
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The good thing is you can dig up the roots in autumn and keep them over winter- they look like large black carrots, dry them out and keep safe from frost- plant out in late spring and enjoy or you can collect the seeds every year but be aware that they do cross quite a bit and you won't have the same colours every year. Treat them like dahlia's and they will last years and years- just don't let the frost any where near them- end game if you do...

olantigh
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