FOUR-O'CLOCK FAMILY. Nyctaginaceae. 



Sand Puffs This plant is, as a whole, so delicately 



Abrdnia sdlsa tinted and so decorative in form, that it is 



White most attractive, particularly against the 



Spring, summer, gandy ^ where it grows> deserving the 



Utah Greek name more than some of its slightly 



awkward sisters. It is about fourteen 

 inches tall, with a stoutish, rather straggling, prostrate 

 stem, which is pale, pinkish, sticky and fuzzy. The leaves 

 have long leaf-stalks and are pale bluish-green, leathery 

 and smooth, but fuzzy on the mid-vein of the under side, 

 and the flowers are numerous, rather small, in handsome 

 roundish clusters, which are about two inches across, with 

 a papery, pinkish or yellowish involucre, of about five, 

 separate, rounded bracts. The calyx is corolla-like and 

 salver-form, with a long, yellowish or greenish tube and 

 five lobes, prettily crinkled at the edges. The seed- 

 vessel is very curious, resembling a round, yellowish 

 sponge, with hooks sticking out of it, and the flowers are 

 deliciously sweet-scented. This is sometimes called Snow- 

 ball. 



The coloring of this plant, one of the 

 Pink Sand-Ver- . r i j -1 



bena prettiest of its kind, is staking and un- 



Abrdnia vtlldsa usual, and makes it very conspicuous, 

 Pinkish-lilac growing in the sand near the sea or in the 



Arl^Cal Utah desert - The thickish leaves are light 

 bluish-green and the thick stem, which 

 straggles rather awkwardly over the ground, is a peculiar 

 shade of pink and sticky and hairy, as are also the in- 

 volucres. The small delicate flowers are an odd tint of 

 pinkish-lilac, light but vivid, in striking contrast to the 

 coloring of stems and foliage, and form very pretty clusters, 

 with an involucre of five to fifteen papery bracts. They 

 are very fragrant and look much like garden Verbenas, sc 

 the name is not so unhappy as some. A. umbellata has 

 slender stems and almost smooth leaves, sometimes with 

 wavy margins, about an inch long, narrowed at base to a 

 slender leaf -stalk, and deep-pink flowers. It is common all 

 along the California coast and blooms in the summer and 

 autumn. A. maritima is found from Santa Barbara to 

 San Diego and is a very stout, coarse, sticky plant, with 

 mall, deep-magenta flowers. 



104 



