Transmontane Sand Verbena

Plants annual, infrequently perennial. Stems decumbent to ascending, much branched, elongate, reddish at least basally, glandular-pubescent, rarely glabrous or viscid-pubescent. Leaves: petiole 1-4.5 cm; blade broadly ovate to orbiculate, 1-5 × 0.5-3 cm, margins entire or ± repand and undulate, surfaces glabrous or sparsely glandular-pubescent. Inflorescences: peduncle longer than subtending petiole; bracts lanceolate to ovate, 3-10 × 1-5 mm, papery, puberulent to densely glandular-pubescent; flowers 15-35. Perianth: tube greenish to coral pink, 6-18 mm, limb white to pale pink, 5-8 mm diam. Fruits winged, turbinate, 3-8 × 3-6 mm, coriaceous, apex broadly tapered to prominent beak; wings (2-)5 (when 2, folded together) truncate distally with conspicuous dilations, cavities extending throughout.

Calif., Nev., Oreg.

Flowering spring-fall.

Sandy soils, desert scrub; 900-2500m.

Abronia turbinata Torr.; S. Wats. Bot, King's Expl. 285. 1871
Abronia latiuscula Greene, Leaflets 2: 105. 1910.
Annual, much branched, the branches erect, ascending, or decumbent, 1.5-5 dm. long, stout, viscid-puberulent when young, glabrate in age, often tinged with purplish-red ; petioles slender, 1-4.5 cm. long; leaf-blades orbicular to ovate-orbicular or broadly oval, 1.4-3.7 cm. long, 1-3 cm. wide, broadly rounded or subcordate at the base and often unequal, broadly rounded at the apex or very obtuse, viscid-puberulent or glabrate, yellowish-green, entire, the blades of the uppermost leaves usually reduced and short-petiolate but not proportionally narrower than the lower ones; peduncles slender, 2.5-9.5 cm. long, viscid-puberulent; bracts lanceolate, lance-oblong, or linear-lanceolate, 5-7 mm. long, scarious, long-attenuate or very acute, viscid-puberulent; perianth 17-22 mm. long, viscidvillosulous or minutely viscidpuberulent outside, the limb 6 mm. broad, white, the tube pinkish; inner fruits of the head broadly turbinate, 5 mm, long and often broader, deeply lobed, the lobes compressed and winglike, acute, truncate above and shortvillous ; seed lance-oblong, 2 mm. long, dark-brown, lustrous.
Type locality: Carson and Humboldt valleys, Nevada.
Distribution: In sandy soil, southern Oregon, western Nevada, and eastern California.

Abronia exalata Standley, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 318
1909.
Abronia turbinata Coville, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 4: 178. 1893. Not A. turbinata Torr. 1871.
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Annual, much branched, the branches stout, ascending or decumbent, 2-5 dm. long, densely viscid-puberulent or rarely glabrate, sometimes tinged with purplish-red; petioles slender, 1-3 cm. long; leaf-blades orbicular to ovateorbicular or broadly oval, 1-3.5 cm. long, 1-3.5 cm. wide, subcordate or broadly rounded at the base and often very unequal, broadly rounded to very obtuse at the apex, entire, viscid-puberulent or glabrous, yellowish-green, often glaucescent beneath; peduncles 2-5 cm. long, viscid-puberulent; bracts ovate or oval, 5-7 mm. long, obtuse or acutish, scarious, viscid-puberulent; perianth 1.2-2 cm. long, viscidpuberulent or short-villous outside, the limb 5-6 mm. wide, white or nearly so, the tube pinkish; inner fruits of the head turbinate, 3 mm. long, shallowly lobed, the lobes broad, obtuse, truncate above, short-villous; seed lance-oblong, 1.5 mm, long, dark-brown, lustrous.
Type locality: Near Keeler, Inyo County, California, at an altitude of 1,100 meters. Distribution : In sandy soil, western Nevada and southeastern California.

Abronia orbiculata Standley, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 322
1909.
Perennial; stems numerous, ascending, 1.5-3 dm. long, stout, much branched, whitish, finely viscid-puberulent; petioles slender, 1-2.5 cm. long, viscid-puberulent; leaf-blades orbicular, rounded-oval, or rounded-deltoid, 0.8-1.7 cm. long, 0.6-1.4 cm. wide, rounded or truncate at the base, broadly rounded at the apex, entire, thick and succulent, concolorous or slightly paler beneath, densely and minutely viscid-puberulent, or glabrate in age; peduncles slender, 3-5 cm. long, viscid-puberulent ; bracts broadly oval, 1 cm. long, 5-7 mm. wide, rounded at the apex, scarious, whitish, minutely viscid-puberulent; flowers numerous, the perianth 12-14 mm. long, viscid-puberulent, the tube slender, the limb about 5 mm. broad, white; fruit turbinate, 5 mm. long, whitish-puberulent, greenish-stramineous, usually deeply 5-lobed, the lobes compressed, truncate or rounded at the apex.
Type locality: Cottonwood Springs, Vegas Valley, Nevada, at an altitude of 1050 meters.
Distribution : Known only from the type locality.

Abronia turbinata is a species of flowering plant in the four o'clock family known by the common name transmontane sand-verbena. It is native to eastern California and Oregon and western Nevada, where it grows in desert and plateau scrub.

This is an erect or spreading herb, usually an annual, approaching 50 centimeters in maximum stem height or length. It produces several thick green leaves which are somewhat oval to nearly round and a few centimeters wide. Inflorescences arise from the stem on peduncles of several centimeters and hold hemispheric or spreading clusters of up to 35 white to pinkish flowers. Each small flower in the cluster is a narrow tube up to 2 centimeters long which abruptly spreads into a lobed corolla. The fruit is a few millimeters long and has hollow, inflated wings.