Atriplex confertifolia |
Atriplex spinifera |
|
---|---|---|
shadscale, shadscale saltbush, sheepfat, spiny saltbush |
spinescale saltbush, spiny saltbush |
|
Habit | Shrubs, dioecious, 3–8 dm, spinescent. | Shrubs, dioecious, erect, intricately much branched, mainly 3–15 dm; branchlets terete, becoming rigid and spinose. |
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 to sessile; blade ovate-deltate to elliptic or spatulate, (5–)10–27 mm, entire or subhastate. |
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. |
borne in small axillary glomerules. |
Pistillate flowers | in similar paniculate inflorescences. |
borne solitary or few in bract axils on short, spinose, lateral branchlets of a paniculate inflorescence. |
Seeds | 1.5–2 mm wide. |
reddish brown, 2–2.8 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 sessile or nearly so, body globose, connate, constricted below oblong to orbicular wings, 7–15 ×3.5–10 mm, entire or obscurely dentate, faces smooth to sparingly cristate. |
2n | = 18, 36, 54+. |
|
Atriplex confertifolia |
Atriplex spinifera |
|
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 | Xeric saline substrates, with mixed salt desert shrubs |
Elevation | 600-2200 m (2000-7200 ft) | 30-1300 m (100-4300 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WY
|
CA
|
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.) |
Spiny saltbush apparently forms occasional hybrids with phases of Atriplex canescens, as indicated by the presence of wings on some of the fruiting bracteoles. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4. | FNA vol. 4, p. 377. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton | 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) | J. F. Macbride: Contr. Gray Herb. 53: 11. (1918) |
Web links |