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desert sand-verbena, hairy sand verbena

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

Habit Plants annual. Plants annual.
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, much branched in large plants, forming loose mats, elongate, glandular-pubescent or 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.

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

flowers 15–35.

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

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.

± 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 villosa

Abronia umbellata

Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

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

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.)

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
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
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 66. FNA vol. 4, p. 67.
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. maritima, A. mellifera, A. nana, A. pogonantha, A. turbinata, A. villosa
Subordinate taxa
A. villosa var. aurita, A. villosa var. villosa
A. umbellata var. acutalata, A. umbellata var. breviflora, A. umbellata var. umbellata
Name authority S. Watson: Amer. Naturalist 7: 302. (1873) Lamarck: Tabl. Encycl. 1: 469, plate 105. (1791)
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