Atriplex confertifolia |
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shadscale, shadscale saltbush, sheepfat, spiny saltbush |
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Habit | Shrubs, dioecious, 3–8 dm, spinescent. |
Leaves | persistent, alternate; petiole 1–4 mm; blade orbiculate to ovate, elliptic, or oval, 9–25(–45) × 4–20(–25) mm, margin entire, apex obtuse. |
Staminate flowers | yellow, in clusters 2–4 mm wide or in spikes to 1 cm, axillary, in foliose-bracteate, divaricately branched panicles 3–15 cm. |
Pistillate flowers | in similar paniculate inflorescences. |
Seeds | 1.5–2 mm wide. |
Fruiting | bracteoles sessile or subsessile, suborbiculate to rhombic or elliptic, 4–12 mm and wide, body indurate, terminal teeth distinct, foliaceous, shorter than bracteoles, entire or toothed below, terminal teeth spreading at maturity, faces smooth, lacking appendages. |
2n | = 18, 36, 54+. |
Atriplex confertifolia |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. |
Habitat | Gravelly to fine-textured soils in greasewood, mat-atriplex, other salt desert shrub, sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, and ponderosa pine communities |
Elevation | 600-2200 m (2000-7200 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WY
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Discussion | Shadscale forms hybrids with Atriplex canescens, A. garrettii, A. corrugata, and A. gardneri varieties. It is, however, closely allied to A. parryi and A. spinifera. The plants are widely dispersed, typically on saline substrates but less commonly on essentially non-saline ones, through large areas of the western United States and adjacent Canada and Mexico, on both raw and exposed geological strata and on alluvium. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Obione confertifolia, A. collina, A. subconferta, Obione rigida |
Name authority | (Torrey & Frémont) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 119. (1874) |
Web links |