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

desert sand-verbena, hairy sand verbena

Habit Plants perennial. Plants annual.
Stems

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

decumbent to ascending, often widely spreading, much branched in large plants, forming large, loose mats, elongate, usually with reddish tinge, glandular-pubescent to long viscid-villous.

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 0.5–5 cm;

blade deltate-ovate to ovate or elliptic, 1–5 × 1–4.5 cm, margins entire to sinuate and ± undulate, adaxial surface glabrous or glandular-pubescent, abaxial surface glandular-pubescent.

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 lance-ovate, 2.5–11 × 1–3 mm, papery, viscid-villous;

flowers 15–35.

Perianth

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

tube pink, 10–35 mm, limb usually magenta, with light eyespot, rarely white, 6–18 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.

usually winged, ± obdeltate in profile, 5–10 × 4–15 mm, indurate, ± rugose-veined, sometimes inconspicuously so;

wings 3–5, not folded, without dilations, thin, truncate distally, equaling or extending slightly beyond conic apex of fruit body, interior spongy.

Abronia mellifera

Abronia villosa

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
AZ; CA; NV; UT; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(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. umbellata
Subordinate taxa
A. villosa var. aurita, A. villosa var. villosa
Key
1. Perianth tubes 10-20 mm; fruits strongly rugose veined
var. villosa
1. Perianth tubes 20-35 mm; fruits inconspicuously rugose veined
var. aurita
Name authority Douglas ex Hooker: Bot. Mag. 56: plate 2879. (1829) S. Watson: Amer. Naturalist 7: 302. (1873)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 65. Treatment author: Leo A. Galloway. FNA vol. 4, p. 66. Treatment author: Leo A. Galloway.
Web links