Flora of North America species comparison

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Atriplex confertifolia

Atriplex phyllostegia

shadscale, shadscale saltbush, sheepfat, spiny saltbush

leafcover saltweed, Truckee orach
Habit Shrubs, dioecious, 3–8 dm, spinescent. Herbs monoecious (or entirely pistillate), erect, much-branched, rounded, bushy, 0.5–6 dm.
Stems

mostly ascending, terete.
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.

petiole 0.3–2 cm;

blade 10–50 × 5–25 mm, base varying from shortly hastate to truncate or cuneate.
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 small to moderate, axillary glomerules near ends of branches, or in bracteate terminal spikes.
Pistillate flowers

in similar paniculate inflorescences.

in axillary clusters.
Seeds

1.5–2 mm wide.

brown, 1.2 mm.
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 lanceolate or oblong, 5–14(–20) mm, sharply lobed to tuberculate at base, also often sharply cristate below usually attenuate apical lobe;

tips widely recurved-spreading.
2n

= 18, 36, 54+.

Atriplex confertifolia

Atriplex phyllostegia
Phenology Flowering spring–fall. Flowering Apr–Aug.
Habitat Gravelly to fine-textured soils in greasewood, mat-atriplex, other salt desert shrub, sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, and ponderosa pine communities Valley bottoms, silty or clay, less commonly, sandy alluvium with greasewood
Elevation 600-2200 m (2000-7200 ft) 1200-1500 m (3900-4900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
NV
[WildflowerSearch map]
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. FNA vol. 4, p. 368.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Phyllostegiae
Sibling taxa
A. acanthocarpa, A. amnicola, A. argentea, A. californica, A. canescens, A. cordulata, A. coronata, A. corrugata, A. coulteri, A. covillei, A. dioica, A. elegans, A. fruticulosa, A. gardneri, A. garrettii, A. glabriuscula, A. gmelinii, A. graciliflora, A. heterosperma, A. holocarpa, A. hortensis, A. hymenelytra, A. joaquiniana, A. klebergorum, A. laciniata, A. lentiformis, A. leucophylla, A. lindleyi, A. linearis, A. littoralis, A. matamorensis, A. mucronata, A. nudicaulis, A. nummularia, A. oblongifolia, A. obovata, A. pacifica, A. parishii, A. parryi, A. patula, A. pentandra, A. phyllostegia, A. pleiantha, A. polycarpa, A. powellii, A. prostrata, A. pusilla, A. rosea, A. saccaria, A. semibaccata, A. serenana, A. spinifera, A. suberecta, A. suckleyi, A. tatarica, A. torreyi, A. truncata, A. tularensis, A. watsonii, A. wolfii, A. wrightii
A. acanthocarpa, A. amnicola, A. argentea, A. californica, A. canescens, A. confertifolia, A. cordulata, A. coronata, A. corrugata, A. coulteri, A. covillei, A. dioica, A. elegans, A. fruticulosa, A. gardneri, A. garrettii, A. glabriuscula, A. gmelinii, A. graciliflora, A. heterosperma, A. holocarpa, A. hortensis, A. hymenelytra, A. joaquiniana, A. klebergorum, A. laciniata, A. lentiformis, A. leucophylla, A. lindleyi, A. linearis, A. littoralis, A. matamorensis, A. mucronata, A. nudicaulis, A. nummularia, A. oblongifolia, A. obovata, A. pacifica, A. parishii, A. parryi, A. patula, A. pentandra, A. pleiantha, A. polycarpa, A. powellii, A. prostrata, A. pusilla, A. rosea, A. saccaria, A. semibaccata, A. serenana, A. spinifera, A. suberecta, A. suckleyi, A. tatarica, A. torreyi, A. truncata, A. tularensis, A. watsonii, A. wolfii, A. wrightii
Synonyms Obione confertifolia, A. collina, A. subconferta, Obione rigida Obione phyllostegia, A. draconis, A. phyllostegia var. draconis
Name authority (Torrey & Frémont) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 119. (1874) (Torrey ex S. Watson) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 108. (1874)
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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