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desert sand-verbena, hairy sand verbena

red sand-verbena, sticky 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, often extensively branched, forming large mats, succulent, densely glandular-pubescent.

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.

petiole 0.5–3 cm;

blade elliptic to oblong or nearly obovate, 5–6.8 × 2.3–4.3 cm, margins usually entire, sometimes ± repand and undulate, surfaces minutely 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 lanceolate to lance-ovate, 7–11 × 3–4 mm, papery, minutely glandular to glandular-pubescent;

flowers 10–18.

Perianth

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

tube red to reddish green, 6–10 mm, limb deep purplish red, 7–10 mm diam., lobes tightly 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.

turbinate, 10–14 × 6–18 mm, thick, indurate, apex irregularly truncate and ± beaked;

wings 3–5, without cavities.

Abronia villosa

Abronia maritima

Phenology Flowering year-round.
Habitat Foredunes and unstable dunes near 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; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(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. 65.
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. latifolia, A. macrocarpa, 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) Nuttall ex S. Watson: in W. H. Brewer et al., Bot. California 2: 4. (1880)
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