WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

 
 

This hairy, sticky, sprawling to semi-erect plant has branching stems that spread 10–40-inches high or long. Note the spherical clusters of white, tubular flowers.


FLOWERS: March–May. Fragrant, white;  2–3-inch spherical clusters with 30–80 tubular flowers, each with 5 white petals, occasionally pink, with wavy, lobed edges; flowers open 1/4–3/8-inch wide (6–10 mm) at the end of a 3/8–1-inch long (1–2.5 cm), green to reddish tube; flowers open late afternoon for nighttime pollination. The seeds are a 1/4–1/2-inch long (5–12 mm) inverted cone with grooves.


LEAVES: Opposite and unequal in size. Blades hairy, oval to lance-shaped, 1–4 3/4 inches long (2.5–12 cm) by 3/8–3-inches wide (1–7.6 cm), on long stems.; margins entire to wavy; sticky, covered with fine hairs.


HABITAT: Sandy, clay soils, roadsides, disturbed areas; dunes, desert grassland, pinyon-juniper woodlands.


ELEVATION: 1,300–7,200 feet.


RANGE: AZ, CO, KS, MT, NE, NM, ND, OK, SD, TX, UT, WY.


SIMILAR SPECIES: White to pink-flowered species include A. elliptica (Four Corners), which some sources lump with A. fragrans, with sticky, hairy, oval leaf blades, 1/2–2 3/8 inches long (1.5–6 cm) with an inverted cone-shaped seed with wings. A. bigelovii (no. cen. NM) has basal leaves only with narrow, linear blades 1/2–3 inches long (1.5–8 cm) and flowers in the fall. A. nana (Four Corners) has basal leaves only with oval blades less than 1 inch long (2.5 cm).


NM COUNTIES: Statewide except Moro and the Boothill counties in low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, Curry, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Guadalupe, Harding, Lea, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Otero, Quay, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union, Valencia.

Fragrant  (snowball)  Sand-verbena

ABRONIA  FRAGRANS

Four-O'Clock Family, Nyctaginaceae

Perennial herb

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