Four O'clock Family, Nyctaginaceae

Desert Sand-Verbena in sand In Anza-Borrego, the Four O'Clcok Family is notable for the Desert Sand-Verbena, which can be seen in broad patches in the desert in a good spring, and for many other plants that are no less colorful but fewer in number.

Among these are the cheery Windmills and the densely-branched Four O'Clocks, a genus which includes the Wishbone Bush. Unlike the Desert Sand-Verbenas which grow in clumps that draw people to them, these other plants grow quietly in washes and beside trails waiting to reward the hiker who discovers them with their shows of color.

Pictured at left are two erect Desert Sand-Verbena on a sandy slope near Coyote Creek north of Borrego Springs.

Below, a bee visits a Desert Sand-Verbena's tiny flower.

Bee on Desert Sand-Verbena