Burke: Abronia mellifera

	Abronia mellifera
	honey-scented sandverbena, white sand verbena
Habit	Herbaceous perennial from a woody taproot, somewhat glandular, finely puberulent to glabrous, with numerous decumbent but erect-tipped branches 2-7 dm. long.
Leaves	Leaves opposite, pale greenish, rather fleshy, the blade lanceolate to deltoid, 2-5 cm. long, abruptly narrowed to a petiole slightly shorter to 3 times as long.
Flowers	Flowers perfect, in heads on peduncles that exceed the leaves, subtended by 5 narrowly oblong to oblong-oblanceolate, membranous, whitish involucral bracts 1.5-4 mm. wide and 7-10 mm. long; perianth densely puberulent to glabrous, white, with a narrow tube 12-20 mm. long and 5 flaring, white lobes 7-10 mm. broad; corolla none; stamens 4-5, included; style 1, included.
Fruits	Achene 8-11 mm. long, puberulent, wingless or with 5 thin, firm wings, the 2 sides closely appressed to each other, broader than the body of the fruit, narrowed to the base.

	Abronia mellifera
Flowering time	May-October
Habitat	Dunes and sandy soil at low elevations.
Distribution	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; eastern Washington to southeastern Oregon, east to Montana and western Wyoming. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	A. latifolia, A. umbellata
Subordinate taxa	A. mellifera var. mellifera
Web links	Local floras: OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Abronia mellifera

honey-scented sandverbena, white sand verbena

Habit

Herbaceous perennial from a woody taproot, somewhat glandular, finely puberulent to glabrous, with numerous decumbent but erect-tipped branches 2-7 dm. long.

Leaves

Leaves opposite, pale greenish, rather fleshy, the blade lanceolate to deltoid, 2-5 cm. long, abruptly narrowed to a petiole slightly shorter to 3 times as long.

Flowers

Flowers perfect, in heads on peduncles that exceed the leaves, subtended by 5 narrowly oblong to oblong-oblanceolate, membranous, whitish involucral bracts 1.5-4 mm. wide and 7-10 mm. long;

perianth densely puberulent to glabrous, white, with a narrow tube 12-20 mm. long and 5 flaring, white lobes 7-10 mm. broad;

corolla none;

stamens 4-5, included;

style 1, included.

Fruits

Achene 8-11 mm. long, puberulent, wingless or with 5 thin, firm wings, the 2 sides closely appressed to each other, broader than the body of the fruit, narrowed to the base.