The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links
Photo is of parent taxon

silver saltbush, silverscale, silverscale saltbush, silvery orache

Habit Plants usually annual, usually monoecious.
Stems

erect, 3–4 dm.

Leaves

proximalmost alternate, distal ones short petiolate;

blade ovate or ovate-elliptic to deltoid, 6–50 × 4–40 mm, margin entire or repand-dentate, grayish scurfy when young.

with Kranz anatomy.

Staminate flowers

with calyx lobes not crested.

Pistillate flowers

lacking or rarely with a perianth (in A. covillei), enclosed by a pair of bracteoles.

Seeds

radicle lateral or superior.

Fruiting

bracteoles sessile or some stipitate (stipe 0.5–5 mm), cuneate to obovate to suborbicular in profile, 3.8–11.2 × 4–8.8(–14) mm, usually compressed, united nearly to apex, green free margin extending nearly to base, dentate, sides smooth or sparsely to densely tuberculate or cristate.

Bracteoles

cuneate to ovate or obovate, united at least to 1/2 of length, faces with tubercles or crests or smooth.

2n

= 18.

Atriplex argentea var. argentea

Atriplex sect. Obione

Phenology Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Dry or saline substrates
Elevation above 1000 m (above 3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; ID; KS; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; SD; TX; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; SK
[BONAP county map]
United States; Mexico
Discussion

Atriplex argentea var. argentea occasionally may be introduced in Michigan, Missouri, and reputedly, Ohio.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species 28 (23 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 4, p. 350. FNA vol. 4, p. 346.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Argenteae > Atriplex argentea Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione
Sibling taxa
A. argentea var. hillmanii, A. argentea var. longitrichoma, A. argentea var. mohavensis, A. argentea var. rydbergii
Subordinate taxa
Synonyms A. volutans
Name authority unknown unknown
Web links