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desert sand-verbena, hairy sand verbena

coastal sand-verbena, yellow sand-verbena

Habit Plants annual. Plants perennial.
Stems

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.

prostrate, often buried in sand, usually much branched, forming large mats, succulent, densely glandular-pubescent to glabrous.

Leaves

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.

1–6 cm;

blade deltate-ovate to reniform, 2.2–4.8 × 2.7–5.2 cm, margins usually entire, sometimes slightly repand and undulate, surfaces glabrous or viscid-puberulent.

Inflorescences

peduncle longer than subtending petiole;

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

flowers 15–35.

peduncle longer than subtending petiole;

bracts ovate, 5–9 × 3–5 mm, thin, yellowish green, glandular-pubescent;

flowers 17–35.

Perianth

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

tube yellowish green, 6.5–18 mm, limb yellow, 8–13 mm diam., lobes slightly to moderately reflexed.

Fruits

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.

winged, ± rhombic in profile, attenuate at both ends, 8–15 × 6–14 mm, scarious;

wings 4–5, thin walled, small, cavities extending into wing.

Abronia villosa

Abronia latifolia

Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Sandy soils, coastal scrub, lees of dunes adjacent to strand
Elevation 0-50 m (0-200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

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

S. S. Tillett (1967) considered plants of Abronia umbellata var. minor (Standley) Munz to be introgressants between A. latifolia and A. umbellata.

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

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
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 66. FNA vol. 4, p. 68.
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. mellifera, A. nana, A. pogonantha, A. turbinata, A. umbellata
A. alpina, A. ameliae, A. ammophila, A. angustifolia, A. argillosa, A. bigelovii, A. bolackii, A. carletonii, A. elliptica, A. fragrans, A. macrocarpa, A. maritima, A. mellifera, A. nana, A. pogonantha, A. turbinata, A. umbellata, A. villosa
Subordinate taxa
A. villosa var. aurita, A. villosa var. villosa
Name authority S. Watson: Amer. Naturalist 7: 302. (1873) Eschscholtz: Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg Hist. Acad. 10: 281. (1826)
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