Atriplex confertifolia |
Atriplex amnicola |
|
---|---|---|
shadscale, shadscale saltbush, sheepfat, spiny saltbush |
swamp saltbush |
|
Habit | Shrubs, dioecious, 3–8 dm, spinescent. | Shrubs, predominantly dioecious, mainly 10–15 dm. |
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. |
short petiolate; blade elliptic to narrowly oblong or narrowly hastate with short divaricate basal lobes, 10–25 mm, margin entire or remotely dentate, apex obtuse to acute. |
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. |
in compact glomerules 5 mm thick, forming terminal spikes. |
Pistillate flowers | in similar paniculate inflorescences. |
in axillary clusters and forming short, dense terminal spikes. |
Seeds | 1.5–2 mm wide. |
circular. |
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. |
bracteoles somewhat rhombic to semicircular, biconvex, 4–6 mm wide, with a short hard turbinate base, thick and hard throughout or with a herbaceous margin, lacking appendages. |
2n | = 18, 36, 54+. |
|
Atriplex confertifolia |
Atriplex amnicola |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering summer–fall. |
Habitat | Gravelly to fine-textured soils in greasewood, mat-atriplex, other salt desert shrub, sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, and ponderosa pine communities | Sea beaches |
Elevation | 600-2200 m (2000-7200 ft) | 10 m (0 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WY
|
CA; Australia [Introduced in North America] |
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.) |
This is a singular, large, mostly dioecious shrub well established on the beach at Malibu, California. It produces abundant, hard, rhombic fruiting bracteoles. In its native western Australia, it occurs in coastal regions and inland along creeks and the outer margins of salt lakes. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4. | FNA vol. 4, p. 344. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Dialysex |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Obione confertifolia, A. collina, A. subconferta, Obione rigida | |
Name authority | (Torrey & Frémont) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 119. (1874) | Paul G. Wilson: Fl. Australia 4: 129, 322. (1984) |
Web links |