Abronia pogonantha

Mohave sand verbena

Family: Nyctaginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Mohave sand verbena is a California native annual found in southern San Joaquin Valley, southern Great Basin, eastern Mojave Desert, and Mojave Desert/Sierra Nevada regions on sandy desert landscapes at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces white to pink flowers with a reddish perianth tube, clustered in groups of 12 to 24 blooms. Growing with decumbent to ascending glandular-hairy stems 10 to 55 centimeters long, it spreads across sandy ground with a sprawling habit. Its leaves are ovate to oblong-ovate, measuring 1.5 to 5.5 centimeters long and 1 to 3 centimeters wide, with petioles 0.8 to 4 centimeters in length. The fruit is 4 to 6 millimeters long with broadly obcordate wings and a distinctive sinus at the top between the wings.

Habitat: Sand, desert communities

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: s SnJV, SnGb, DMoj, DMoj/SN

California counties: San Bernardino, Kern, Los Angeles, Fresno, Riverside, Inyo, San Benito, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Merced, Kings, Mono

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.