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

amelia's sand verbena, heart's delight

Habit Plants perennial. Plants perennial.
Stems

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

procumbent to semierect, slightly to moderately branched, elongate, often reddish at nodes, viscid.

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 1–9 cm;

blade deltate-ovate to elliptic, 2–8 × 2–6.5 cm, margins repand to sinuate, frequently undulate, adaxial surface glandular-puberulent, abaxial surface 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 longer than subtending petiole;

bracts ovate to elliptic, 5–16 × 2–10 mm, papery, glandular-pubescent;

flowers 20–75.

Perianth

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

tube magenta, 12–25 mm, limb bright magenta, 8–10 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 turbinate, 6–9 × 3–4.5 mm, ± 2 times as long as wide, scarious, base attenuate, rounded or truncate at apex, with a broadly conic beak;

wings 5, finely reticulate, thin walled, narrow, cavities extending throughout.

Abronia fragrans

Abronia ameliae

Phenology Flowering spring–fall. Flowering winter–spring.
Habitat Dry sandy soils, scrub and grasslands Sandy soils, live-oak grasslands
Elevation 400-2000 m (1300-6600 ft) 0-100 m (0-300 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
TX
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Abronia ameliae has limited cultivation as an ornamental in southern Texas.

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

Source FNA vol. 4, p. 63. FNA vol. 4, p. 63.
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. alpina, 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) Lundell: Wrightia 1: 54. (1945)
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