Abronia californica

• Interesting Facts
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Description

Family Nyctaginaceae

Herbs, shrubs , trees , or sometimes spiny vines . Leaves opposite, alternate, or whorled ; stipules absent; petiole usually present, well defined; leaf blade simple , herbaceous or slightly fleshy , margin entire. Inflorescences mostly terminal , less often axillary , of cymes, umbels, or verticils , sometimes 1-flowered or fasciculate, often grouped into panicles; bracts often inconspicuous, sometimes forming calyxlike involucre, or large and brightly colored . Flowers bisexual , rarely unisexual or polygamous, actinomorphic . Perianth constricted beyond the ovary, base persistent , closely enclosing ovary which appears inferior, limb petaloid beyond constriction, tubular , funnelform , or campanulate , apex 5-10-lobed, lobes plicate or valvate in bud, persistent or caducous . Disk absent. Stamens (1-) 3-5(-many), hypogynous, free or connate at base, involute in bud; anthers 2-loculed, dehiscence longitudinal . Ovary superior, 1-loculed; ovule 1. Style 1; stigma globose . Fruit an achenelike anthocarp enclosed by persistent perianth, ribbed or winged , often glandular . Seed 1; endosperm present; embryo straight or curved .

About 30 genera and 300 species: tropics and subtropics, mainly in tropical America; six genera (two introduced ) and 13 species (one endemic, three introduced) in China.[1]

Genus Abronia

Herbs, annual or perennial , sometimes cespitose or appearing acaulescent , usually viscid-pubescent, from slender to stout taproot (extensively rhizomatous in Abronia bolackii). Stems prostrate to erect , unarmed , without glutinous bands on internodes. Leaves usually basal and cauline (all basal in A. bigelovii and A. nana), unequal in each pair, petiolate ; blade ± thick and succulent, base usually asymmetric . Inflorescences axillary (appearing scapose in A. bigelovii and A. nana), pedunculate , capitate clusters , with peripheral flowers usually opening first; receptacle slightly rounded to conic, without pedicel-like projections; bracts persistent , not accrescent , 5-10, distinct , forming involucre, lanceolate to broadly ovate , thinly papery or scarious , translucent , occasionally thin and green. Flowers bisexual , chasmogamous ; perianth radially symmetric , funnelform or salverform , constricted distal to ovary, abruptly expanded to 5-lobed limb; stamens 5-9, included ; styles included; stigmas linear . Fruits winged or not, usually fusiform or turbinate , in profile rhombic , cordate, or obdeltate, coriaceous , glabrate to viscid puberulent ; wings 2-5, opaque , subtly veined, not or only slightly extending beyond apex or base of body, distal margins sometimes dilated and flattened, broader than lamina, interior hollow, forming cavity , or filled with spongy tissue ; sulci smooth or slightly rugose .

Species ca. 20: North America, Mexico.

Mature to near-mature fruits are usually required for identification of Abronia species because of the variation of vegetative structures within each taxon . Abronia appears to be in a state of active evolution. Cross-pollination readily occurs in the greenhouse, producing a variety of hybrids. Hybridization occasionally occurs in the field .[2]

Taxonomy

Notes

Publishing author : Raeusch. Publication : Nomencl. Bot. [Raeusch.] ed. 3, 191 1797

Similar Species

Members of the genus Abronia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 40 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

A. alba (Whiteflower Sand Verbena) · A. alpina (Ramshaw Meadow Abronia) · A. ameliae (Amelia Sand Verbena) · A. ammophila (Tweedy's Sand Verbena) · A. angustifolia (Narrow-Leaf Sandverbena) · A. argillosa (Clay Sand Verbena) · A. aurita (Cope's Arboreal Alligator Lizard) · A. bigelovii (Galisteo Sand Verbena) · A. bolackii (Bolacks Sand Verbena) · A. carletoni (Carleton's Sand Verbena) · A. carletonii (Carleton's Sand Verbena) · A. elliptica (Dwarf Sandverbena) · A. fragrans (Four Oclock) · A. gracilis (Narrow Sandverbena) · A. insularis (Island Sand Verbena) · A. latifolia (Coastal Sand Verbena) · A. macrocarpa (Large-Fruited Sand Verbena) · A. maritima (Red Sand Verbena) · A. mellifera (Honey-Scent Sand Verbena) · A. minor (Little Sand Verbena) · A. nana (Dwarf Sand Verbena) · A. nana covillei (Coville's Dwarf Abronia) · A. nana S.Watson var. harrisii Welsh (Harris' Dwarf Sand Verbena) · A. nana S.Watson var. nana S.Watson (Dwarf Sand Verbena) · A. nana var. covillei (Coville's Dwarf Sand Verbena) · A. nana var. harrisii (Harris' Dwarf Sand Verbena) · A. nana var. nana (Dwarf Sand Verbena) · A. neurophylla (Beach Sand Verbena) · A. platyphylla (Broadleaf Sand Verbena) · A. pogonantha (Mojave Sand Verbena) · A. turbinata (Trans Montane Abronia) · A. umbellata (Pink Sand Verbena) · A. umbellata breviflora (Pink Sand Verbena) · A. umbellata variabilis (Beach Sandverbena) · A. umbellata var. umbellata (Sand-Verbena) · A. umbellata subsp. breviflora (Pink Sand Verbena) · A. umbellata subsp. variabilis (Variable Pink Sand Verbena) · A. villosa (Desert Sand Verbena) · A. villosa var. aurita (Sand Verbena) · A. villosa var. villosa (Wooly Desert Sand Verbena)

More Info

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Further Reading

• An illustrated flora of the Pacific States: Washington, Oregon, and California. Stanford University, Stanford University Press, 1923-[60] url p. 110.
• An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British possessions: from Newfoundland to the parallel of the southern boundary of Virginia and from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the 102nd meridian / by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Hon. Addison Brown. New York: Scribner, 1913. url p. 33.
• Lu Dequan. 1996. Nyctaginaceae. In: Tang Changlin, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 26: 114.
• Galloway, L. A. 1975. Systematics of North American desert species of Abronia and Tripterocalyx. Brittonia 27: 328-347.
• Tillett, S. S. 1967. The maritime species of Abronia (Nyctaginaceae). Brittonia 19: 299-327.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 9, 2012.
• The International Plant Names Index. Accessed Dec 27, 2011.

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 9483166
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15651944
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:603970-1
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 326869-2
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1347637

Footnotes

1. Dequan Lu & Michael G. Gilbert "Nyctaginaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 430. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. Leo A. Galloway "Abronia". in Flora of North America Vol. 4 Page 16, 61. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.