Flora of North America species comparison

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Atriplex canescens var. gigantea
Photo is of parent taxon

fourwing saltbush, Lynndyl fourwing
Habit Plants mainly 10–20 dm, not especially armed, commonly layering.
Pistillate flowers

borne in panicles 5–40 cm.
Seeds

1.5–2.5 mm wide.
Fruiting

bracteoles on stipes 18, body with 4 prominent, dentate to entire wings extending length of bract, united throughout, mainly 15–25 mm wide and about as long, apex toothed, surface of wings and body smooth or reticulate.
2n

= 18.

Atriplex canescens var. gigantea
Phenology Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Active sand dunes
Elevation 1400-1600 m (4600-5200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
UT
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Atriplex canescens var. gigantea occurs with scurfpea (Psoralidium lanceolatum), ricegrass (Stipa hymenoides), and other dune plants. Occasional plants with very large bracts occur as far south as El Paso County, Texas. The chromosomal status for Atriplex canescens var. gigantea is unknown, however, and is evidently unusual in the species in being diploid. The population in Juab County, Texas, occurs in active sand dunes and accommodates the change in depth of sand by rooting (i.e., layering) along the buried portions of the stem (H. C. Stutz et al. 1975). Actual plant length below the sand surface is often much greater than that showing above the surface.

Atriplex canescens var. gigantea is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 380.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton > Atriplex canescens
Sibling taxa
A. canescens var. canescens, A. canescens var. laciniata, A. canescens var. macilenta
Name authority S. L. Welsh & Stutz: Great Basin Naturalist 44: 189. (1984)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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