About Petalonyx thurberi A.Gray
Petalonyx thurberi A.Gray is a species of flowering plant in the family Loasaceae, commonly known as Thurber's sandpaper plant and common sandpaper plant. It is native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, where it grows in sandy and scrubby habitats. This plant is a rounded or spreading, clumpy subshrub formed from many rough-haired stems that reach a maximum height of nearly one meter. Its stems bear clasping leaves that vary in shape from lance-shaped to triangular to oval, and sometimes have toothed edges. At the tip of each stem is an inflorescence that takes the form of a small, crowded raceme holding several flowers. The white flowers have a tubular appearance: their petals are fused near their spreading tips, open toward the base, and have stamens that emerge from outside the corolla. There are two recognized subspecies; the rarer one, Petalonyx thurberi ssp. gilmanii, also called Death Valley sandpaper plant, is restricted to the deserts in and around Death Valley.
