Abronia mellifera |
Abronia umbellata |
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honey scented sand-verbena, white sand-verbena |
beach sand verbena, pink sand-verbena, purple sand verbena |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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Abronia mellifera |
Abronia umbellata |
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| Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | |||||||||
| Habitat | Sandy soils, cold desert scrub, grasslands | |||||||||
| Elevation | 100-2000 m [300-6600 ft] | |||||||||
| Distribution |
ID; OR; UT; WA; WY
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CA; OR; WA; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
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| 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.) |
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| Key |
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| 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. | FNA vol. 4, p. 67. | ||||||||
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