Atriplex argentea |
Atriplex nudicaulis |
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maidenhair spleenwort, silver orach, silver orache, silver saltbush, silverscale, silverscale orache, silverscale saltbush, silvery orache |
Baltic saltbush, nude orach |
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Habit | Herbs, simple or freely branched, 0.5–6 dm; branches rather stout, angled, scurfy when young. | Herbs, monoecious, pale green, 0.5–3 dm, glabrous. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | simple or branched, erect or ascending, terete or subangular. |
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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). |
alternate or the proximalmost opposite, blade green, oblong, lanceolate, or ovate, proximal leaves lanceolate to rhombic-ovate, 10–30 × 5–13 mm, base rounded or hastately to cuneately narrowed to petiole, margin nearly always entire (some hastate), apex acute or rounded, rarely obtuse, glabrous on both sides. |
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Flowers | in axillary glomerules and terminal, interrupted spikes. |
in rather loose spiciform, axillary or terminal inflorescences. |
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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 | enclosed by paired bracteoles. |
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Seeds | brown, 1.5–2 mm wide; radicle superior or lateral. |
small, not or only moderately dimorphic: black, convex, 1.5–2 mm wide, lustrous, or light brown or olivaceous, compressed, 2.5–3 mm wide, duller, with subbasal, spreading radicle. |
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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 green, midvein never impressed, sessile or with stipes 0.5–1.5 mm, broadly ovate to rhombic-ovate, 3–5 mm, distinct nearly to base, base rounded or more often hastate-cuneate, margin entire or sparingly toothed, apex acute or acuminate, faces smooth. |
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2n | = 18, 36, 54. |
= 18. |
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Atriplex argentea |
Atriplex nudicaulis |
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Phenology | Flowering late summer–fall. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Coastal sites | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0 m (0 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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NF |
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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.) |
M. M. Iljin, (1936) definitely placed Atriplex praecox within the synonymy of A. nudicaulis. The following note is included in Flora Europaea (P. Aellen 1964b): “In the Baltic and arctic Russia many subspecies of, or species related to 19 [i.e., A. longipes Dreger] have been described. Most of these are sympatric and are probably more correctly treated as variants of this group.” Listed are both A. nudicaulis and A. praecox, followed by short descriptions. Both have stalked bracteoles circa 5–6 mm, with the former being 3-veined and with lateral reticulum, the latter being 1-veined. If they are the same, then nudicaulis is the earliest name. (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. 339. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Argenteae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Teutliopsis | ||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | Obione argentea | A. longipes subsp. praecox, A. praecox | ||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 198. (1818) | Boguslaw: L sn. Zurn. 1: 30. (1846) | ||||||||||||||||
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