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Abronia macrocarpa

(Large-Fruited Sand Verbena)

Overview

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The large-fruited sand verbena is a graceful perennial member of the four o'clock family and is native to sandy areas of East Texas. The stems are ascending to erect , to 50 cm tall. The sand verbena produces among the region's most attractive inflorescences. In spring , head-like clusters of 20-75 fuchsia to magenta flowers 18-30 mm long are borne above light green, hairy , sticky leaves. Intensely scented flowers open at dusk and attract moths throughout the evening hours until dawn. Plants are self-infertile with viable fruit occurring only as result of plant-to-plant crosses (Williamson and Bazeer 1997). The fruits 8-15 mm long, heart-shaped in side view and have 5 papery wings . Wind-blown fruits travel across the plant's habitat thus dispersing the fruit's seeds. After flowering the plant goes dormant for the summer, surviving as a taproot .

Abronia macrocarpa is adapted to the harsh and fragile sandy openings and dunes in savannah-like woodlands. These regions are characterized by deep, sandy infertile soils, disturbed areas with low and unreliable precipitation levels and extreme daily and yearly temperature fluctuations. First collected in 1968 but not formally described until 1972, the plant has been federally listed as endangered since 1988 (Reed 2001; Tiller 2001; Williamson 2001).

Endangered

Threat status

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Large-Fruited Sand Verbena, Large-Fruit Sand-Verbena, Large-Fruited Sand-Verbena, Large-Fruited Sandverbena, Largefruit Sand Verbena, Largefruited Sandverbena

Common Names in unspecified:

Large-Fruited Sand Verbena, Large-Fruited Sand-Verbena, Largefruit Sand Verbena, Largefruited Sandverbena

Description

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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]

Physical Description

Species Abronia macrocarpa

Plants perennial . Stems ascending to semierect, slightly to moderately branched, elongate , glandular-pubescent to viscid . Leaves: petiole 0.5-4 cm; blade ovate to elliptic , 2-5 × 1.5-3.5 cm, margins entire or occasionally ± repand and slightly undulate , surfaces glandular-puberulent. Inflorescences: peduncle longer than subtending petiole; bracts ovate to elliptic, 7-13 × 4-6 mm, papery , glandular-pubescent; flowers 20-75. Perianth: tube pink to magenta, 18-32 mm, limb magenta, 8-10 mm diam. Fruits broadly turbinate or cordate in profile , 8-15 × 6-12 mm, 0.7-2 times as long as wide, scarious , with a low, conic, inconspicuous beak at apex; wings 5, often twisted, usually smooth , occasionally rugose , not reticulate veined at apex, without cavities. Flowering spring , opportunistically after summer rains. [source]

Habit: Forb/herb

Flowers: Bloom Period: February, March, April. • Flower Color: magenta, mauve , pink, rose

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 12-18" tall.

Habitat

Sand dunes; of conservation concern; 100 m [3].

A. macrocarpa is found on sandy substrates, including blowouts , aeolian sand deposits, and sandy dunes in post oak and grassland mosaic vegetation types. Soil type of one site in Freestone County, which contains thousands of individuals, is characterized as the Pickton loamy fine sands in the southern portion and Wolfpen loamy fine sand at the northern extent (Williamson 2001).

Ecology:

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 9-12" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.6 • Maximum pH: 6.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Notes

Publishing author : L.A.Galloway Publication : Brittonia 24 (2): 148 (1972).

Similar Species

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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

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 28, 2008:

Identifiers

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]
  3. "Abronia macrocarpa". in Flora of North America Vol. 4 Page 62, 63, 64. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012