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Abronia mellifera

honey scented sand-verbena, white sand-verbena

beach sand verbena, pink sand-verbena, purple sand verbena

Habit Plants perennial. Plants annual.
Stems

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

prostrate, much branched in large plants, forming loose mats, elongate, glandular-pubescent or glabrous.

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 1–6 cm;

blade ovate, elliptic, or rhombic, 1.5–6.8 × 0.8–4.7 cm, margins entire to ± repand and undulate, surfaces glandular-puberulent to glandular-villous, usually ± glaucous.

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 lanceolate to ovate, 5–7 × 3–5 mm, papery, glandular-puberulent to viscid-villous;

flowers 8–27.

Perianth

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

tube magenta to greenish, 6.5–18 mm, limb magenta, 6–16 mm diam., throat surrounded by white to yellowish white eyespot.

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.

± obdeltate in profile, 6–12 × 6–16(–24) mm, indurate, smooth, not rugose veined, apex beaklike;

wings 5, not folded, poorly to very well developed, from slightly shorter than beaklike apex of body to prolonged beyond beak, thin, without cavities.

Abronia mellifera

Abronia umbellata

Phenology Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Sandy soils, cold desert scrub, grasslands
Elevation 100-2000 m [300-6600 ft]
Distribution
map from FNA
ID; OR; UT; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
map from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).

S. S. Tillett (1967) stated that Abronia umbellata is sufficiently similar to the inland A. villosa that without information regarding locality some specimens would be very difficult to identify. He also considered A. umbellata subsp. alba (Eastwood) Munz, subsp. platyphylla (Standley) Munz, and subsp. variabilis (Standley) Munz, A. insularis Standley, and A. neurophylla Standley to be introgressive hybrids of A. umbellata with A. maritima.

The name Abronia gracilis Bentham has appeared in regional floras and treatments of Nyctaginaceae since Standley’s continental treatment (1918). S. S. Tillett (1967) stated that the taxon was reported for San Diego County, California, but cited no documenting specimens. I. L. Wiggins (F. Shreve and I. L. Wiggins 1964) considered only A. gracilis subsp. platyphylla (Standley) Ferris to enter the United States, in San Diego County, an entity considered by Tillett to be an intergrade between A. umbellata and A. maritima. The distinctions among A. gracilis, A. umbellata, and A. villosa are subtle at best, and the group is in need of careful study.

(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. macrocarpa, A. maritima, A. mellifera, A. nana, A. pogonantha, A. turbinata, A. villosa
Subordinate taxa
A. umbellata var. acutalata, A. umbellata var. breviflora, A. umbellata var. umbellata
Key
1. Fruit wing tips often prolonged beyond fruit apex; flowers 7-10 mm
var. acutalata
1. Fruit wing tips terminating below or extending to fruit apex; flowers 6.5-18 mm
→ 2
2. Flowers 6.5-10 mm; wings of fruit poorly to moderately developed, if developed, tapering to fruit apex
var. breviflora
2. Flowers 12-18 mm; wings of fruit well developed, truncate or tapering to fruit apex
var. umbellata
Name authority Douglas ex Hooker: Bot. Mag. 56: plate 2879. (1829) Lamarck: Tabl. Encycl. 1: 469, plate 105. (1791)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 65. Treatment author: Leo A. Galloway. FNA vol. 4, p. 67. Treatment author: Leo A. Galloway.
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