The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links
Abronia mellifera

honey scented sand-verbena, white sand-verbena

large-fruit sand-verbena

Habit Plants perennial. Plants perennial.
Stems

decumbent to ascending, much branched, elongate, glabrous or glandular-pubescent.

ascending to semierect, slightly to moderately branched, elongate, glandular-pubescent to viscid.

Leaves

petiole 1–6 cm;

blade ovate to lance-elliptic, 1–6 × 0.5–4 cm, margins entire to sinuate and ± undulate, surfaces glabrous or glandular-pubescent.

petiole 0.5–4 cm;

blade ovate to elliptic, 2–5 × 1.5–3.5 cm, margins entire or occasionally ± repand and slightly undulate, surfaces glandular-puberulent.

Inflorescences

peduncle longer than subtending petiole;

bracts lanceolate to obovate, 5–12 × 1–5 mm, papery, glabrate to glandular-pubescent;

flowers 25–60.

peduncle longer than subtending petiole;

bracts ovate to elliptic, 7–13 × 4–6 mm, papery, glandular-pubescent;

flowers 20–75.

Perianth

tube pale rose proximally to greenish distally, 15–25 mm, limb white, 7–12 mm diam.

tube pink to magenta, 18–32 mm, limb magenta, 8–10 mm diam.

Fruits

winged, broadly obdeltate or cordate in profile, 6–10 × 4–10 mm, thin, usually coriaceous, rarely indurate, base attenuate, apex prominently beaked;

wings (2–)5 (when 2, folded to form single deep groove), without dilations, broad, thin, without cavities.

broadly turbinate or cordate in profile, 8–15 × 6–12 mm, 0.7–2 times as long as wide, scarious, with a low, conic, inconspicuous beak at apex;

wings 5, often twisted, usually smooth, occasionally rugose, not reticulate veined at apex, without cavities.

Abronia mellifera

Abronia macrocarpa

Phenology Flowering spring–fall. Flowering spring, opportunistically after summer rains.
Habitat Sandy soils, cold desert scrub, grasslands Sand dunes
Elevation 100-2000 m [300-6600 ft] 100 m [300 ft]
Distribution
map from FNA
ID; OR; UT; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
map from FNA
TX
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Abronia macrocarpa is on the United States endangered species list; and it is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

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

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. fragrans, A. latifolia, A. macrocarpa, A. maritima, A. nana, A. pogonantha, A. turbinata, A. umbellata, A. villosa
A. alpina, A. ameliae, A. ammophila, A. angustifolia, A. argillosa, A. bigelovii, A. bolackii, A. carletonii, A. elliptica, A. fragrans, A. latifolia, A. maritima, A. mellifera, A. nana, A. pogonantha, A. turbinata, A. umbellata, A. villosa
Name authority Douglas ex Hooker: Bot. Mag. 56: plate 2879. (1829) L. A. Galloway: Brittonia 24: 148, fig. 1. (1972)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 65. Treatment author: Leo A. Galloway. FNA vol. 4, p. 63. Treatment author: Leo A. Galloway.
Web links