Abronia latifolia (Yellow sand verbena)

Abronia latifolia Eschsch.

Yellow sand verbena, coastal sand verbena

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Caryophyllidae	Cacti, many other succulents, carnivorous plants, and leadworts
Order	Caryophyllales	Includes cacti, carnations, amaranths, ice plants, and many carnivorous plants
Family	Nyctaginaceae	Plants with unique fruits (“anthocarps”) and large pollen grains
Genus	Abronia	Sand-verbenas or wild lantanas
Species	latifolia	Coastal yellow sand verbena

About plant names...

Yellow sand verbena grows in loose beach sand, within a couple of hundred feet of the ocean, along the west coast of North America, between southern California and Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It is native to this region. The neat round “flowers” are really bracts (modified leaves)—the plant does not have petals. These plants are less than 6" (15 cm) in height.

Edibility: The roots of this plant are said to be edible.

Identification: These verbenas are less than 6" (15 cm) high, forming mats up to 6' (1.8 m) in size. The small ball-shaped flowerheads are typical of verbenas. They bloom from May to August. There are several sand verbenas, but most are purple, and yellow sand verbena occupies only the narrow strip along the west coast ocean front.

Fruit and flowerhead, from nps.gov.

Online References:

Abronia latifolia on Wikipedia

Abronia latifolia on CalPhotos

Abronia latifolia at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Abronia latifolia on Plants for a Future, a resource and information centre for edible and otherwise useful plants

Abronia latifolia on eFloras

Abronia latifolia description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 28 Aug 2021.

9/2/2007 · Oregon
≈ 9 × 6" (23 × 15 cm)

Range:

About this map...