Sweet, powdery, faintly tropical. Mirabilis (four o'clock flower) blooms at dusk with a scent like powdered jasmine tinged with warm spice — evening-specific, gentle, old-fashioned.
Sweet, powdery, gently floral, faintly spicy. Softer than jasmine, less green than magnolia, with a particular powdery-warm quality. The evening-bloom character gives it a dusky, intimate feeling. Like the air in a garden at six o'clock in summer — warm, sweet, faintly floral, settling toward evening.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
Sweet powdery floral, faintly spicy, warm
After a few hours
After a few hours
Softer, more musky-powdery, less floral
After a few days
After a few days
Faint powdery residue, warm, quiet
The Full Story
Mirabilis (Mirabilis jalapa, the four o'clock flower or marvel of Peru) is a perennial native to tropical Americas whose flowers open in late afternoon and close by morning — hence the common name. The fragrance is most intense during the evening hours when nocturnal pollinators (hawkmoths) are active.
The scent is sweet, powdery, and gently floral with a warm, faintly spicy quality. Key volatiles include benzyl benzoate (faint, balsamic), linalool (floral), and various benzenoid compounds. The fragrance is softer and more powdery than jasmine, less indolic, with a particular old-fashioned quality that recalls grandmother's gardens.
Mirabilis jalapa is remarkable for its genetic variability — a single plant can produce flowers of different colors (white, pink, yellow, red, striped), and the tuberous roots contain powerful antifungal compounds. The plant has naturalized throughout the tropics worldwide.
No commercial extraction exists. In perfumery, mirabilis is a nostalgic fantasy note suggesting twilight gardens and evening air.
This note in Première Peau. Nuit Elastique · Rose Monotone. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
Mirabilis jalapa was one of the plants used by Carl Correns in his 1900 experiments on non-Mendelian inheritance — the multicolored flowers demonstrated cytoplasmic inheritance, where petal color is determined by maternal chloroplast DNA rather than nuclear genes.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: No commercial extraction exists for Mirabilis jalapa in perfumery. The flowers' volatile content is too low for viable extraction. Headspace analysis has been performed for botanical research. Any mirabilis note is entirely reconstructed from synthetic materials.
Molecular Formula
Complex natural mixture
CAS Number
91722-88-2
Botanical Name
Mirabilis jalapa
IFRA Status
No known restrictions
Synonyms
Four O'Clock Flower, Marvel of Peru
Physical Properties
Odor Strength
Medium
Appearance
Colorless to pale yellow liquid
Specific Gravity
0.90-0.95 @ 25 °C (est)
In Perfumery
Mirabilis is a fantasy floral note — no commercial extract exists. Reconstructed from powdery florals (heliotropin, benzyl benzoate), soft musks, and warm-spicy modifiers. Functions as an evening-mood floral heart in nostalgic, twilight, and garden-realist compositions. The four o'clock bloom timing gives it conceptual value in time-of-day fragrance narratives. Provides a powdery, old-fashioned florality distinct from modern white flowers.
