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fragrant verbena, fragrant white sand-verbena, heart's-delight, snowball sand-verbena

Ramshaw Meadows abronia, Ramshaw Meadows sand verbena

Habit Plants perennial. Plants perennial.
Stems

procumbent to semierect, slightly to moderately branched, elongate, sometimes reddish at base and nodes, glandular-pubescent, viscid.

prostrate, well branched, forming small mats, elongate, viscid-pubescent.

Leaves

petiole 0.5–8 cm;

blade ovate to triangular or lanceolate, 3–12 × 1–8 cm, margins entire to subsinuate and slightly undulate, adaxial surface glandular-pubescent, abaxial surface more densely and longer pubescent, or sometimes villous.

petiole 1–2 cm;

blade orbiculate-oval, 0.4–1 × 0.3–0.5 cm, margins entire, plane, surfaces glandular-pubescent.

Inflorescences

peduncle longer than subtending petiole;

bracts linear-lanceolate to oval-ovate, 7–25 × 2–12 mm, scarious, glandular-puberulent to short villous;

flowers 30–80.

peduncle shorter than subtending petiole;

bracts lanceolate to ovate, 2–3 × 1–2 mm, papery, glandular-pubescent;

flowers 1–5.

Perianth

tube greenish to reddish purple, 10–25 mm, limb white, (2–)6–10 mm diam.

tube whitish, 10–18 mm, limb white to lavender-pink, 6–8 mm diam.

Fruits

winged or not, fusiform and appearing deeply grooved when wingless, when wings not distorted, fruit ± cordate in profile, tapered at base, with prominent beak in broad notch at apex, 5–12 × 2.5–7 mm, indurate, rugose veined or, if wings distorted, fruit ± rhombic in profile and tapered at both ends, or obdeltate and truncate at apex, with prominent beak;

wings 4–5, thick, narrow, not dilated at apex, cavities extending throughout;

peripheral fruits often distorted, S-shaped in lateral view.

narrowly obovate in profile, 3–4 × 2–3 mm, thin, coriaceous, apex broadly conic;

wings absent or 5-angled.

Abronia fragrans

Abronia alpina

Phenology Flowering spring–fall. Flowering summer.
Habitat Dry sandy soils, scrub and grasslands Sandy soils, alpine meadows
Elevation 400-2000 m (1300-6600 ft) 2600-3000 m (8500-9800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; KS; MT; ND; NE; NM; OK; SD; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 4, p. 63. FNA vol. 4, p. 69.
Parent taxa Nyctaginaceae > Abronia Nyctaginaceae > Abronia
Sibling taxa
A. alpina, A. ameliae, A. ammophila, A. angustifolia, A. argillosa, A. bigelovii, A. bolackii, A. carletonii, A. elliptica, A. latifolia, A. macrocarpa, A. maritima, A. mellifera, A. nana, A. pogonantha, A. turbinata, A. umbellata, A. villosa
A. ameliae, A. ammophila, A. angustifolia, A. argillosa, A. bigelovii, A. bolackii, A. carletonii, A. elliptica, A. fragrans, A. latifolia, A. macrocarpa, A. maritima, A. mellifera, A. nana, A. pogonantha, A. turbinata, A. umbellata, A. villosa
Name authority Nuttall ex Hooker: Hooker’s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 5: 261. (1853) Brandegee: Bot. Gaz. 27: 456. (1899)
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