108 NYCTAGINACEAE 



8. ABRONIA Juss. (Gen. 448, hyponym. 1789) ex Lam. Tab. 



Encyc. 1: 469. 1791. 



Annual or perennial branching herbs, erect or prostrate, sometimes appearing acaules- 

 cent, usually viscid-pubescent. Leaves opposite, unequal, thick, the margins entire or 

 sinuate. Flowers perfect, in pedunculate heads, subtended by 5-8 scarious bracts. Peri- 

 anth fragrant, salverform with a slender tube constricted above the ovary, enlarged at 

 the throat, the limb with 4-5 emarginate lobes. Stamens 4-5, unequal, united at the base 

 and adnate to the perianth-tube above, included. Stigma fusiform. Anthocarp turbinate 

 or bi-turbinate, deeply lobed or winged, not mucilaginous when wet; seed elliptic-oblong, 

 dark brown, one cotyledon enclosing the farinaceous endosperm, the other abortive. 

 [Greek, meaning graceful.] 



A genus of about 25 species distributed over western and central United States and Canada and adjacent 

 Mexico. Type species, Abronia umbellata Lam. 



Fruit winged (central cavity not extending into the edges of the wings). 



Wings of the fruit translucent, completely enclosing the body of the fruit. 1. A. Crux-Maltae. 



Wings of the fruit opaque, interrupted above and below the body of the fruit. 



Flowers white; plants perennial, erect or decumbent. 2. A. mellifera. 



Flowers rose-purple (rarely white) ; plants annual or if perennial, then prostrate. 



Stems and inflorescence long-villous; body of fruit and base of wings coarsely rugose-veined; 



plants of the interior. 3. A. villosa. 



Stems and inflorescence puberulent to short-villous; body of fruit not rugose-veined; plants of the 

 seashore. 4. A. umbellata. 



Fruit wingless or merely lobed (with the central cavity extending to the edges of the wing-like lobes.) 

 Fruit lobed. 



Flowers bright crimson or yellow; plants of seashore. 



Flowers yellow; leaves orbicular or reniform, as wide or wider than long. 5. A. latifolia. 

 Flowers bright crimson; leaves oval, longer than broad. 6. A. maritima. 



Flowers white to rose-colored; plants of mountains and deserts of the interior. 



Plant perennial, with a thick caudex, appearing cespitose. 7. A. nana Covillei. 



Plant annual. 



Fruit obcordate, with 2 regular wing-like lobes. 9. A. pogonantha. 



Fruit obpyramidal with shallow, irregular lobes. 10. A. turbinata. 



Fruit wingless. 



Flowers 1-5 in each head; plant forming dense mats. 8. A. alpina. 



Flowers 15-30 in each head; plants erect or decumbent. 10. A. turbinata. 



1. Abronia Crux-Maltae Kellogg. Kellogg's Sand-verbena. Fig. 1586. 



Abronia Crux-Maltae Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. 2: 71. 1863. 

 Tripterocalyx Crux-Maltae Standley, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 12: 328. 1909. 



Branched annual, erect or decumbent herbs with viscid-villous to glabrate stems. Leaves 

 bright green, broadly ovate to elliptic-oblong, 3-7 cm. long, viscid-villous, the blades often gla- 

 brate ; inflorescence 1-6 cm. long ; involucral bracts 4-7, 6-10 mm. long, ovate-lanceolate ; 

 perianth rose-colored with greenish throat, tube pale, 1.8-2.5 cm. long, mostly 4-merous, the 

 divisions deeply bilobate; anthocarp round or slightly flattened in outline, 1-1.5 cm. long, the 

 wings 2, rarely 3, thin, translucent, coarsely reticulate-veined, body of the fruit indurate, 

 glandular-villous, with coarsely transverse veins continuous with those of the wings. 



Sandy soil, Arid Transition Zone; central and northwestern Nevada and adjacent California. Type locality: 

 Carson Valley, Washoe County, Nevada. May-June. 



Abronia micrantha Torr. in Frem. Rep. 92. 1843. An allied species with greenish-white flowers and 

 nearly glabrous fruit has been reported from sand dunes near Kelso, San Bernardino County, California (Jaeger). 



2. Abronia mellifera Dougl. Honey-scented Sand-verbena or Abronia. Fig. 1587. 



Abronia mellifera Dougl. ex Hook. Bot. Mag. 56: pi. 2879. 1829. 

 Abronia Suksdorfii Coult. & Fisher, Bot. Gaz. 17: 348. 1892. 

 Abronia lanceolata Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 29: 685. 1902. 



Perennial herb, 2-6 dm. high with erect or decumbent, pale, puberulent or glabrate stems. 

 Leaves 5-10 cm. long, glabrate, sometimes minutely puberulent, petioles equaling or exceeding 

 the ovate-oblong to lance-elliptic blades, margins entire or occasionally subsinuate; peduncles 

 5-15 cm. long, glandular-puberulent ; bracts white, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 10-15 mm. 

 long; flowers many; perianth 18-25 mm. long, tube very slender, minutely glandular-puberulent, 

 greenish white, limb 8-11 mm. broad, white; fruit 7-10 mm. long, turbinate, wings thin, usually 

 5, regular, narrowed below, truncate above or extending above the indurate body of the fruit in 

 short rounded lobes, reticulate, puberulent, outer fruits often wingless. 



Sandy soil, Arid Transition Zone; Idaho to eastern Oregon and Washington. Type locality: "near the 

 great falls of the Colombia"; collected by Douglas. May-Aug. 



3. Abronia villosa S. Wats. Desert Sand-verbena or Abronia. Fig. 1588. 



Abronia villosa S. Wats. Amer. Nat. 7: 302. 1893. 



Ascending, decumbent or procumbent annuals with stout, densely viscid-villous branches 

 1-4 dm. long. Leaves 2-4 cm. long, petioles densely viscid-villous, blades 1 . 5-3 cm. long, often 

 irregular at the base, obscurely undulate-margined, sparingly glandular, short-villous on the 



