Desert Sand Verbina (Abronia villosa)

(Fig. 01)

Picture Notes: All of the pictures shown here (Figs 01-04) were captured on my 03/19/2011 visit to Death Valley National Park. They were taken around the Lake Manly marker and turnoff along the western side of Badwater Road.

Description: Desert Sand Verbina (Abronia villosa) is a glandular-pubescent much-branched annual wildflower with stems either prostrate or ascending and somewhat sticky. Up to 20 inches across and 3-6 inches high, it grows in creeping prostrate masses along the ground. It has oval-shaped dull green leaves and many peduncles bearing rounded inflorescences of bright magenta or purplish-pink trumpet-shaped, 5-lobed, fragrant flowers, 2 to 3 inches wide that have flower stalks up to 10 inches long, with 1-3 inch stems trailing up to 3 feet. Its opposite, slightly hairy, light green leaves are ovate to round with wavy edges 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches long. As its name implies, it grows in sandy flats, sand dunes and desert roadsides below 1,500 feet. It has a very sweet fragrance, and is also very sticky. It likes full sun and sandy soil and is common in the desert regions of southern California, this plant is also found in Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Mexico, as well as along the coast. They usually grow between February and May.

(Fig. 02)

(Fig. 03)

(Fig. 04)