[Sidenote: =Sand Puffs=
_Abrònia sálsa_
=White
Spring, summer, Autumn
Utah=]
This plant is, as a whole, so delicately tinted and so decorative in
form, that it is most attractive, particularly against the sandy soil
where it grows, deserving the Greek name more than some of its slightly
awkward sisters. It is about fourteen inches tall, with a stoutish,
rather straggling, prostrate stem, which is pale, pinkish, sticky and
fuzzy. The leaves have long leaf-stalks and are pale bluish-green,
leathery and smooth, but fuzzy on the mid-vein of the under side, and
the flowers are numerous, rather small, in handsome roundish clusters,
which are about two inches across, with a papery, pinkish or yellowish
involucre, of about five, separate, rounded bracts. The calyx is
corolla-like and salver-form, with a long, yellowish or greenish tube
and five lobes, prettily crinkled at the edges. The seed-vessel is very
curious, resembling a round, yellowish sponge, with hooks sticking out
of it, and the flowers are deliciously sweet-scented. This is sometimes
called Snowball.
[Sidenote: =Pink Sand-Verbena=
_Abrònia villòsa_
=Pinkish-lilac
Summer
Ariz., Cal., Utah=]
The coloring of this plant, one of the prettiest of its kind, is
striking and unusual, and makes it very conspicuous, growing in the
sand near the sea or in the desert. The thickish leaves are light
bluish-green and the thick stem, which straggles rather awkwardly
over the ground, is a peculiar shade of pink and sticky and hairy,
as are also the involucres. The small delicate flowers are an odd
tint of pinkish-lilac, light but vivid, in striking contrast to the
coloring of stems and foliage, and form very pretty clusters, with an
involucre of five to fifteen papery bracts. They are very fragrant
and look much like garden Verbenas, so the name is not so unhappy
as some. _A. umbellàta_ has slender stems and almost smooth leaves,
sometimes with wavy margins, about an inch long, narrowed at base to a
slender leaf-stalk, and deep-pink flowers. It is common all along the
California coast and blooms in the summer and autumn. _A. marítima_
is found from Santa Barbara to San Diego and is a very stout, coarse,
sticky plant, with small, deep-magenta flowers.
[Illustration: Sand Verbena--Abronia villosa.]
[Illustration: Sand Puffs--Abronia salsa.]
[Sidenote: =Yellow Sand-Verbena=
_Abrònia latifòlia_
=Yellow
Spring, summer, autumn
Wash., Oreg., Cal.=]
Pretty at a distance, but rather coarse close by, a straggling plant,
with long, thick, rubbery stems, lying on the ground, thickish leaves,
and small yellow flowers, slightly fragrant and forming pretty clusters
about an inch and a half across, with five bracts. This is common along
the seashore, blooming more or less all through the year. It has a
long, thick root, which is eaten by the Indians.
There are a good many kinds of Allionia, one Asiatic, the rest
American. The bell-shaped flowers have unequal stamens, usually three,
on the receptacle. The peculiar, five-lobed involucre, which becomes
large and papery after flowering, contains from three to five flowers.
The fruit is ribbed and often hairy. The shape of the involucre
probably suggested the common name Umbrella-wort.
[Sidenote: =Narrow-leaved Umbrella-wort=
_Alliònia lineàris_
=Purple, pink, white
Summer
Utah, Ariz., etc.=]
A pretty plant, one to four feet tall, with a slender stem and long,
narrow, bluish-green leaves, with somewhat wavy margins, and almost
no leaf-stalks. The flowers are fragile and pretty, of various shades
of pink, the shape of small Morning-glories, half an inch across,
the stamens and style protruding. There are from three to five in a
cluster, in a purple and green involucre. This involucre is curious,
for before the flowers come out it is closed around a bunch of buds,
looking as if it were itself a pretty five-angled bud, and one would
not suspect that there were other little buds inside it. When the
flowers bloom and drop, which they do very soon, this involucre unfolds
and expands until it becomes an exceedingly thin, papery, five-lobed
disk, three-quarters of an inch across, veined with purple, very pretty
and delicate, looking like an odd little flower without a heart. The
smooth stem forks towards the top and the branches, which are slightly
hairy, bear numerous clusters of involucres with flowers inside them.
This grows in dry soil, is widely distributed and found as far east as
Illinois.
[Illustration: Involucre of Allionia linearis.