Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex corrugata |
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crownscale, wedgescale |
mat-atriplex, mat-saltbush, matscale |
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Habit | Herbs, erect or decumbent, 0.5–6 dm; branches terete, fructiferous almost to base, scurfy when young. | Shrubs dioecious (rarely monoecious), low spreading (often appearing as if prostrate), mainly 0.3–1.5 × 3–15 dm. | ||||||||
Leaves | alternate, subsessile or proximal short petiolate; blade ascending, oblong, oblong-ovate, or lanceolate to elliptic, 5–40 × 2–10 mm, thin, base acute to obtuse, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate. |
persistent, sessile, opposite proximally, alternate distally; blade linear to linear-oblanceolate, or oblong, 3–18 × 2–6 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse. |
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Flowers | of both sexes in small axillary glomerules, 5-merous. |
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Staminate flowers | yellow to brownish, in clusters 3–6 mm wide, borne in spikes 1–8 cm. |
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Pistillate flowers | in leafy bracteate spikes 5–15 cm. |
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Seeds | light brown to amber, 1–1.5 mm. |
brown, 1.5 mm wide. |
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Fruiting | bracteoles almost sessile, broadly cuneate, 2–5 × (2–)2.5–5 mm, united to summit, truncate at summit, sides smooth or obscurely tuberculate. |
bracteoles sessile or subsessile, panduriform, 3–5 × 4–6 mm, united to beyond middle, margin entire or undulate, apex rounded to acute, densely tuberculate (or smooth). |
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2n | = 36. |
= 36. |
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Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex corrugata |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | |||||||||
Habitat | Saline, usually fine-textured substrates derived from Mancos Shale, Tropic Shale, Morrison, Duchesne River, and other similar formations in mat-atriplex and Castle Valley saltbush communities | |||||||||
Elevation | 1200-2200 m (3900-7200 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
CA
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CO; NM; UT
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Discussion | Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). Although placed within the Atriplex argentea species complex by P. C. Standley (1916), this taxon appears more nearly allied to A. cordulata, differing mainly in leaf shape, round-ovate or deltoid-ovate to elliptic or lanceolate (not ovate to cordate-ovate), and markedly tuberculate faces of the fruiting bracteoles. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Mat-saltbush is known to form intermediates with both Atriplex confertifolia and A. gardneri var. cuneata. This saltbush is a valuable browse plant on the sparsely vegetated clays and silts of eastern Utah, especially on the Mancos Shale exposures, where it is often the only woody vegetation present. (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. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Pusillae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | A. elegans var. coronata, Obione coronata | A. nuttallii var. corrugata | ||||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 114. (1874) | S. Watson: Bot. Gaz. 16: 345. (1891) | ||||||||
Web links |