Atriplex confertifolia |
Atriplex saccaria |
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shadscale, shadscale saltbush, sheepfat, spiny saltbush |
sack saltbush, sack saltweed, stalk orach, stalk orache |
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Habit | Shrubs, dioecious, 3–8 dm, spinescent. | Herbs, erect, forming rounded clumps. | ||||||||
Stems | mainly 0.5–4(–5) dm; stems usually branched from base, terete, stout, angled; herbage scurfy. |
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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. |
alternate or proximalmost subopposite, short petiolate or distal ones sessile; petiole 2–5 mm; blade cordate-ovate or subreniform to ovate to deltoid-ovate or oval, mainly 6–40 × 4–30 mm, base truncate to subcordate or broadly cuneate, margin entire or in some subhastately lobed or sometimes undulate-dentate, apex acute to 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. |
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Pistillate flowers | in similar paniculate inflorescences. |
usually in fascicles of 1–3 in proximal axils. |
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Seeds | 1.5–2 mm wide. |
brownish to whitish, 1.5–2.3 mm. |
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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 monomorphic or dimorphic, larger ones on stipes (2–)4–8(–15) mm, others sessile, united at base, round-triangular or suborbicular, 4–6 mm, irregularly and coarsely dentate and with ± densely beset with flat, cristate, or hornlike appendages, smaller bracteoles (lacking or rare in var. asterocarpa) in same axils, oblong to cuneate, 3–4 mm, apex truncate, dentate only at summit, faces smooth. |
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Staminate | glomerules in distal axils or in short, naked, terminal (early deciduous) panicles; flowers with 5-parted calyx. |
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2n | = 18, 36, 54+. |
= 18. |
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Atriplex confertifolia |
Atriplex saccaria |
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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; CO; NM; 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.) |
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). (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. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Saccariae | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Obione confertifolia, A. collina, A. subconferta, Obione rigida | A. truncata var. saccaria, Obione saccaria | ||||||||
Name authority | (Torrey & Frémont) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 119. (1874) | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 112. (1874) | ||||||||
Web links |