• East view from Crissy Field overlook with old Coast Guard station on left and city on right

    Presidio of San Francisco

    California

Yellow Sand Verbena

(Abronia latifolia)
 
Yellow Sand Verbena
Yellow Sand Verbena flower and fruit on the dunes at Crissy Field.
Will Elder, NPS
 

Origin Of Genus Name: Abronia is Greek for "graceful."

Presidio Locations: Found in coastal foredunes.

Range In State: California coast. The Presidio is the type locality for this species.

Description: This native, perennial forms a dense prostrate mat on open sand dunes. It has long fleshy leaves and deep roots. The Russian naturalist Ivan Eschscholtz described and named this species from a specimen he collected in 1824 while visiting the Presidio. Blooms June to September.

Native Californian Uses: The Ohlone made a tea used for typhoid fever. The Diengueno used Sand Verbena to make a diuretic.

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Did You Know?

Refugees in line for supplies, 1906

In the three days following the 1906 earthquake, the Army's refugee camps at the Presidio issued 3,000 tents, 12,000 shelter halves, 13,000 ponchos, 58,000 pairs of shoes, and 24,000 regulation blue shirts.