Small-flowered Sand-Verbena

This was a new plant for us to see, back on 27th June, when a few of us visited the Purple Spring Sand Dunes near Taber, way down in southern Alberta.

"The Small-flowered Sand-verbena has amazing adaptations that allow it to tolerate its arid environment. For example, its extremely hardy seeds can lie dormant for up to three years while waiting for favourable growing conditions. Each seed has two or three thin, papery wings that carry it on wind and water. As a result, this annual is unlikely to be found in exactly the same spot each year.

This plant grows to between 20 and 50 centimetres, and has striking greenish-white flowers that tend to open in the late afternoon. As its name suggests, it favours hard-packed, fine sand on level ground, but can also be spotted on slopes and ridge tops of dunes.

A species of Western North America, its range in Canada is almost entirely limited to southeastern Alberta. It has been found at only one site in Saskatchewan, just east of the Alberta border.

This endangered plant requires drifting sand. Dune stabilization is therefore robbing it of its habitat. So too are alien invasive weeds and other plants, which are flourishing on dunes because the absence of fire and decreased grazing mean less unstable sand. Cultivation around existing populations of Small-flowered Sand-verbena is decreasing its ability to spread naturally."

www.naturecanada.ca/parks_nwa_current_suffield_speciesatr...