Southwest Desert Flora

Scientific Name: Abronia villosa
Common Name: Desert Sand Verbena
Also Called: Chaparral Sand-verbena, Desert Sandverbena, Desert Sand-verbena, Pink Sandverbena; (Spanish: Alfombrilla)
Family: Nyctaginaceae, Four O’clock Family
Synonyms: ()
Status: Native
Duration: Annual
Size: 3 to 6 inches tall more or less, 12 to 24 inches wide.
Growth Form: Forb/herb; prostrate creeping mats with ascending branches, soft glandular hairs, sticky.
Leaves: Green, dull green; fleshy, round, triangular-ovate or elliptic, margins entire, both sides of leaves with sticky glandular hairs.
Flower Color: Pink, purplish-pink, lavender, bright magenta; sweet fragrance, flowers showy, trumpet-shaped in clusters of 15 or more on ends of long stems, flowers from leaf axils.
Flowering Season: February to May, February to July in Texas.
Elevation: Up to 1,500 feet, higher elevations in California, up to 4,500 feet.

Habitat Preferences: Lower dry desert areas, creosote bush communities, well drained sandy soils, flood plains, coastal-sage scrub in California.

Recorded Range: Native to AZ, CA, NV, UT, Baja California and northern Mexico. A coastal species in southern California. In southwestern and western parts of Arizona.

North America & US County Distribution Map for Abronia villosa.

North America species range map for Abronia villosa:
North American range map courtesy of Virginia Tech, Dept. of Forest Resources & Environmental Conservation

U.S. Weed Information: No information available.
Invasive/Noxious Weed Information: No information available.
Wetland Indicator: No information available.
Threatened/Endangered Information: No information available.

Genus Information: 23 species in Abronia, all in western United States and British Columbia. 5 species in Arizona and Texas, 12 species in California and 7 species in New Mexico.

The Plant List includes 86 scientific plant names of species rank for the genus Abronia. Of these 30 are accepted species names.

2 varieties in Abronia villosa:
Abronia villosa var. aurita, Desert Sand Verbena, (AZ, CA);
Abronia villosa var. villosa, Desert Sand Verbena, (AZ, CA, NV, UT).

Comments: Desert Sand Verbena needs ample winter rains to produce large areas of carpet like blooms. Desert Sand Verbena is a Mojave Desert species and well adapted in the western portions of the Sonoran Desert.

Desert Sand Verbena is used as a diuretic (Paiute) and as a dressing for burns (Shoshoni). See full species account from Native American Ethnobotany, University of Michigan, Dearborn.