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Abronia ammophila
Also called Yellowstone sand verbena, Tweedy's Sand Verbena
Wyoming sand verbena (Abronia ammophila) is a low, sticky perennial herb found only on sandy lakeshores in Yellowstone National Park, at high elevation with cold winters. It is grown mainly as a specialist native, and success depends on sandy, well-drained soil and full sun.
Abronia ammophila, the Yellowstone sand verbena, or Wyoming sand verbena, is a flowering plant unique to Yellowstone National Park lakeshores and is endemic to the park. Part of the "Four o'clock" family (Nyctaginaceae), Abronia ammophila is best suited in sandy soils and lake shores.
The presence of a sand verbena on the Yellowstone Plateau is surprising because of the high elevation of approximately 7,740 ft (2,360 m) and long, cold winters. Yellowstone sand verbena is a member of a New World plant family that typically lives in warmer climates such as deserts. The genus Abronia includes about 30 species that primarily occur in warmer areas of the western United States and Mexico. Some botanists speculate that the thermal activity in Yellowstone has made it possible for a sand verbena to survive the harsh winters here and slowly evolve into a species that is adapted to this climate.
This species was more widely distributed around the lake. Due to trampling by foot traffic and habitat degradation, the population of the species within the park decreased 56% between 1998 and 2010.
Ramshaw Meadows sand verbena · Amelia's sand verbena · Purple sand verbena · Fragrant white sand verbena · Snowball sand verbena · Coastal sand verbena · Largefruit sand verbena · Red sand verbena · White sand verbena · Dwarf sand verbena · Mojave sand verbena · Transmontane sand verbena
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Abronia ammophila by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
