Atriplex argentea |
Atriplex heterosperma |
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maidenhair spleenwort, silver orach, silver orache, silver saltbush, silverscale, silverscale orache, silverscale saltbush, silvery orache |
orach, Russian atriplex, Russian atriplex orach |
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Habit | Herbs, simple or freely branched, 0.5–6 dm; branches rather stout, angled, scurfy when young. | Herbs, monoecious, erect, branching from base, mostly 5–15 dm. | ||||||||||||||||
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). |
alternate except proximal-most; petiole 2–3 cm; blade green on both sides, triangular to lance-triangular, 30–120 × 12–90 mm, hastate or subcuneate, margin subentire or irregularly dentate, farinaceous at first, finally glabrous. |
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Flowers | in axillary glomerules and terminal, interrupted spikes. |
in terminal or axillary pyramidal panicles 6–25+ cm. |
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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, with bracteoles free to base. |
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Pistillate flowers | dimorphic, all bracteolate and lacking sepals. |
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Seeds | brown, 1.5–2 mm wide; radicle superior or lateral. |
vertical; of larger bracteoles yellowish brown, flat, 2–3 mm wide, dull; of smaller bracteoles black, 1.5 mm wide or less, shiny; radicle inferior, basal. |
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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 orbiculate-ovate, of 2 sizes; larger ones 5–6 × 5 mm; smaller ones 2 × 2 mm, margin entire, surfaces smooth. |
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2n | = 18, 36, 54. |
= 36. |
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Atriplex argentea |
Atriplex heterosperma |
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Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Riparian and palustrine (less commonly ruderal) habitats | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0-2000 m (0-6600 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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CA; CO; ID; ME; NE; NV; NY; OR; SD; UT; WY; AB; BC; MB; ON; QC; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
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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.) |
Russian atriplex occurs with greasewood, saltgrass, cottonwood, tamarix, and weedy annuals. It is a handsome, vigorous ruderal, weedy annual indigenous to Europe east to Chinese Turkestan that appears to be invading saline lowland and other disturbed areas throughout much of North America. It is similar to Atriplex prostrata from which it can be distinguished by the entire margin and smooth surfaces of the fruiting bracteoles. Additionally, the leaves are thick-textured and often bear one or more lobes or teeth irregularly along the blade above the subbasal main hastate lobe. The staminate spikes when young are very slender, mainly less than 2.5 mm thick. (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. 336. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Argenteae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Teutliopsis | ||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Obione argentea | |||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 198. (1818) | Bunge: Beitr. Fl. Russl., 272. (1852) | ||||||||||||||||
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