yellow sand-verbena
Abronia latifolia

Family: Nyctaginaceae.

Type: Perennial herbaceous plant.

Leaves: Round, flat, thick leaves. The leaves are punctate: they have many tiny holes. These holes are salt glands through which it extrudes excess salt.

Twig: Prostrate growth form to trap litter and anchor sand, again. Long, succulent stems.

Fruit & Flower: Small yellow flowers in a clutered inflorescence. Fruit is a little ball, like a small liquidamber fruit, that blows along the dunes and breaks apart.

Miscellaneous: Around Monterey Bay there is often a transition from a northern to a southern species of a given type of plant. This verbena is the northern verbena species; the southern species has pink flowers. This species is not very common.