Atriplex argentea |
Atriplex argentea var. mohavensis |
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maidenhair spleenwort, silver orach, silver orache, silver saltbush, silverscale, silverscale orache, silverscale saltbush, silvery orache |
Mohave orach |
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Habit | Herbs, simple or freely branched, 0.5–6 dm; branches rather stout, angled, scurfy when young. | |||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect or decumbent, much branched, 3–12(–20) dm, forming clumps 3–10(–30) dm broad; branches obtusely to sharply angled, finely scurfy, white scurfy to glabrate. |
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Leaves | often opposite proximally, petiolate or distal bracteate ones subsessile, blade lance-ovate, lanceolate, deltoid, or cordate, 5–75 × 4–50(–75) mm, base subhastate or obtuse to acute, margin entire or essentially so, sometimes closely repand-dentate, apex obtuse to acute or rounded, scurfy (glabrous). |
petiole 2–21 mm on proximal leaves, distal ones sessile; blade 3-veined at base, ovate to lance-ovate, or deltoid-ovate, (10–)25–75 mm and often as broad, margin irregularly dentate or entire. |
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Flowers | in axillary glomerules and terminal, interrupted spikes. |
of sexes intermixed in glomerules or staminate ones in distinct glomerules. |
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Staminate flowers | borne in distal axils, or in short dense spikes or panicles, or intermixed with pistillate, with 4–5-parted calyx. |
5-merous. |
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Pistillate flowers | in axillary fascicles. |
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Seeds | brown, 1.5–2 mm wide; radicle superior or lateral. |
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Fruiting | bracteoles sessile, subsessile, or stipitate (stipe 0.5–5 mm), cuneate-orbicular, (2.5–)4–11.2 × 2–8.8(–14) mm, margin foliaceous below apex, subentire or dentate to laciniate, face smooth, tuberculate, or crested, processes sometimes again toothed, teeth then aligned with axis of process. |
bracteoles sessile to subsessile, orbicular or cuneate-orbicular, mostly 3-veined, (3–)4–7 × 2–4 mm, united to middle, margin sharply dentate, faces with a few irregular, green projections or crests, or unappendaged. |
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2n | = 18, 36, 54. |
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Atriplex argentea |
Atriplex argentea var. mohavensis |
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Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Dry or saline substrates | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | above 1000 m (above 3300 ft) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; KS; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OK; OR; SD; TX; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; SK; Mexico
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AZ; CA; NM; NV; OK; TX; Mexico |
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Discussion | Varieties 5 (5 in the flora). Herbarium materials have tended to represent a catchall for annual specimens not readily assignable to other taxa. Indeed, the distinguishing features of the Atriplex argentea complex are shared singly and often in combination with other taxa. Only by use of combinations of features can this taxon be defined. Those features, with much variation, center around the broad, typically ovate to deltoid leaf blades (often definitely 3-veined) and more-or-less compressed, sessile to subsessile (or short stipitate), fruiting bracteoles on which the marginal processes, or teeth, are mainly aligned with the plane compression, and with the faces quite smooth to variously appendaged. Still some specimens are apparently intermediate with other species, especially with the closely allied A. saccaria, with which it is at least partially sympatric. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Atriplex argentea var. mohavensis is a tall, bushy plant with tumbleweed proportions. Its morphologic differences, slight though they may be, are geographically based. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4. | FNA vol. 4, p. 351. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Argenteae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Argenteae > Atriplex argentea | ||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Obione argentea | A. expansa var. mohavensis, A. expansa var. trinervata, A. sordida, A. trinervata | ||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 198. (1818) | (M. E. Jones) S. L. Welsh | ||||||||||||||||
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