Atriplex confertifolia |
Atriplex gardneri |
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shadscale, shadscale saltbush, sheepfat, spiny saltbush |
Gardner's orache, Gardner's sagebrush, Gardner's saltbrush, Gardner's saltbush, Nuttall's saltbush |
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Habit | Shrubs, dioecious, 3–8 dm, spinescent. | Shrubs or subshrubs, dioecious or monoecious, 1–10 dm, unarmed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | prostrate to ascending, or less commonly erect. |
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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. |
± persistent, alternate or opposite to subopposite (especially proximally), sessile to petiolate; blade linear to oblanceolate, obovate, spatulate, or orbiculate, 5–55 × 2–25 mm, base cuneate, margin entire (rarely dentate), apex retuse to obtuse or rounded. |
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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. |
yellow or brown, in numerous clusters 2–4 mm wide, in spikes or panicles 2–30 cm. |
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Pistillate flowers | in similar paniculate inflorescences. |
in spikes or panicles to 30 cm. |
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Seeds | 1.5–2 mm wide. |
tan or brown, 1.5–2.5 mm wide. |
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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 2–9 × 2–9 mm, bearing tubercles or wings or tubercles aligned in 4 rows or rarely smooth, apex toothed and usually with 2 or more lateral teeth. |
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2n | = 18, 36, 54+. |
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Atriplex confertifolia |
Atriplex gardneri |
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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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AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; MB; SK; Mexico
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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.) |
Varieties 7 (7 in the flora). This is a widely distributed complex of intergrading genotypes of great phenotypic plasticity. The members occur commonly in fine-textured saline substrates in much of the western Great Plains and in the Intermountain Region. Diploids, triploids, tetraploids, and hexaploids (and higher polyploids, all multiples of the base number 9) are known within the complex, and hybrids are known not only between the constituents but with the other woody species which they contact, i.e., Atriplex canescens, A. confertifolia, and A. corrugata. Indeed, a case can be made for treating both A. gardneri and A. canescens within an expanded A. canescens. They are regarded here as forming two intergrading complexes, with some of the constituent varieties placed equally well within either of the species aggregations. The treatment essentially follows the alignment of taxa suggested by C. A. Hanson (1962), with the exception that they are reduced to varietal status and var. bonnevillensis and var. aptera are placed within the A. gardneri phase and not with A. canescens. (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. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Obione confertifolia, A. collina, A. subconferta, Obione rigida | Obione gardneri, A. nuttallii subsp. gardneri, A. nuttallii var. gardneri | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (Torrey & Frémont) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 119. (1874) | (Moquin-Tandon) D. Dietrich: Syn. Pl. 5: 537. (1852) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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