Yellow Sand Verbena

Abronia latifolia on the beach

Let us leave the garden and take a walk on a beach. Dune habitat has its own plant life and although it might not be as exuberant and exciting as the forest or meadow, nevertheless there are some unique species there that are not found anywhere else. Usually these plant have "dune" or "beach" or "sand" as part of their common name. Sometimes it is a species peculiar to beach habitat wherefore other species of the same genus strive in different environment. An example of such a plant would be morning glory. It grows pretty much everywhere where thee is enough sunshine and moisture. The genus species in Latin is called Calystegia. There are quite a few. The most common species is Calystegia sepium. The beach morning glory species is Calystegia soldanella.

With verbena things are getting hairy. First of all, the common name verbena has nothing to do with the genus named Verbena (it's the Latin name too) which is part of the Verbenaceae family. Sand verbena in Latin is called Abronia and the yellow variety that we are interested in is called Abronia latifolia. (Latifolia means "with broad leaves".) Our friend arbonia belongs to Four O'Clock Family (Nyctaginaceae)

The flowers of Abronia latifolia are arranged in neat round heads. The leaves are succulent but rough to the touch. It can be seen on the beaches and dune habitat but the plant is not very common.