Topic: 4'oclock seeds or Mirablis jalapa

[willsy]

I am confused!!! I  brought some of these seeds back from Spain, but on the packet they say these are an edible herb/ plant. On searching for the seed online it says these are poisonous. Help.

[ed dibbles]

Not recommended to eat unless you are really hungry!!

This from Wikipedia: The flowers are used in food colouring. The leaves may be eaten cooked as well, but only as an emergency food

And this from Plants For A future: Tender young leaves - cooked as a vegetable. An emergency food, only eaten when all else fails. An edible crimson dye is obtained from the flowers. It is used for colouring cakes and jellies. The seed is crushed and used as a pepper substitute.

Better stick to dahlia tubers for an unusual edible I'd say.

[star]

I grew these once and found out they were not exectly wholesome, the seeds anyway, so out they went as I had a much younger granddaughter at the time.
That was 7-8 years ago and I still get seedlings popping up occasionally