Atriplex argentea
Atriplex joaquiniana
maidenhair spleenwort, silver orach, silver orache, silver saltbush, silverscale, silverscale orache, silverscale saltbush, silvery orache
San Joaquin orach
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).
mostly alternate;
petiole 0.5–2.5 cm, becoming shorter or subsessile in distal ones;
blade deltoid to rhombic-ovate or lanceolate, (10–)15–50(–70) × 8–40 mm, base rounded, truncate, or broadly cuneate, margin irregularly sinuate-dentate or repand-dentate to entire, sometimes subhastate, apex obtuse to acute;
distal blades often narrower and sometimes entire except for basal lobes.
in axillary glomerules and terminal, interrupted spikes.
in dense or interrupted, naked, simple or paniculate spikes mainly 5–8 mm thick, staminate ones 4-merous.
borne in distal axils, or in short dense spikes or panicles, or intermixed with pistillate, with 4–5-parted calyx.
brown, 1.5–2 mm wide;
radicle superior or lateral.
dark brown or black, 0.8–1.5 mm;
radicle inferior.
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 densely packed on rachis, sessile, ovate-oblong or rounded-deltoid, (2–)2.5–3(–4.5) mm, united only at rounded or truncate base, angled and cristate on faces, thin or spongy-thickened.
= 18, 36, 54.
Atriplex argentea
Atriplex joaquiniana
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 joaquiniana commonly occurs with Distichlis spicata, Allenrolfea occidentalis, Suaeda moquinii, Frankenia salina, Hordeum depressum, Spergularia macrotheca, and various annual species. H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923) placed the relationship of this very distinctive California endemic with the Atriplex patula complex, with which one can make out a distant affinity. It differs from all other members previously treated within that complex in the small, more or less quadrangular fruiting bracteoles, which are typically crested on one or both elevated faces and have entire or less commonly dentate margins. The bracteoles are borne in very compact simple or paniculate spikes.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Plants low, rounded, mainly 1-3(-4.5) dm; fruiting bracteoles sessile or rarely some short stipitate, the appendages mainly acuminate or acute-attenuate; Nevada and adjacent se California, se Oregon | → 2 |
1. Plants rather strict and often taller, mainly 2-4(-5) dm; fruiting bracteoles, at least some, short stipitate; appendages acute to less commonly acuminate to attenuate; other distribution | → 3 |
2. Leaf blades typically, but not always, constricted to the petiole; herbage merely scurfy, or with elongate trichomes mainly on the fruiting bracteoles; Nevada (except the southern part), and adjacent se California and se Oregon | var. hillmanii |
2. Leaf blades typically, if not always, cuneate to a winged petiole or merely sessile base; herbage copiously covered with elongate trichomes throughout, or mostly on the stems and fruiting bracteoles; Nye County, Nevada and adjacent Inyo County, California | var. longitrichoma |
3. Leaf blades elliptic to oval, attenuate to a cuneate base; sw Colorado, se Utah, and nw New Mexico | var. rydbergii |
3. Leaf blades triangular-ovate to oval, base broadly obtuse to acute or less commonly cuneate; various or other distribution | → 4 |
4. Distal leaves short petiolate; proximalmost leaves alternate; plants mostly less than 4 dm; British Columbia to Manitoba, s through Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Idaho, Utah, e Nevada, Colorado, w Kansas, ne Arizona, nw New Mexico | var. argentea |
4. Distal leaves sessile; proximalmost leaves opposite; plants mostly over 4 dm; California, s Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, w Oklahoma, w and n Texas | var. mohavensis |
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
KS Wildflowers, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
