Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex coulteri |
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crownscale, wedgescale |
Coulter's orach, Coulter's orache, Coulter's saltbush |
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Habit | Herbs, erect or decumbent, 0.5–6 dm; branches terete, fructiferous almost to base, scurfy when young. | Herbs, perennial, sometimes flowering as an annual, spreading 0.7–10 dm, slightly woody at base. | ||||||||
Stems | frequently tinged with red, much branched, sparsely scurfy. |
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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. |
many, sessile or short petiolate; blade obovate, oblong, oblanceolate, or elliptic, (5–)7–20 × 1–3(–5) mm, base cuneate, margin entire, apex acute. |
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Flowers | of both sexes in small axillary glomerules, 5-merous. |
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Staminate flowers | in glomerules in distal axils and short terminal spikes. |
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Pistillate flowers | in small axillary clusters. |
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Seeds | light brown to amber, 1–1.5 mm. |
brown, 1.3–1.5 mm. |
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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, broadly obovate, 2–3 mm and as broad or about as broad, united 1/2 of length, margin free, deeply and sharply dentate, narrowed at summit, faces smooth or sometimes tuberculate. |
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2n | = 36. |
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Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex coulteri |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | |||||||||
Habitat | Somewhat alkaline or clay low places, valley grasslands, coastal sage scrub, coastal slopes | |||||||||
Elevation | 0-500 m (0-1600 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
CA
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CA
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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.) |
Of conservation concern. Atriplex coulteri is closely allied to the geographically disjunct A. fruticulosa, from which it is said to differ in the compressed, small (2.5–3 mm) versus thickened and larger (3–5 mm) bracts. Specimens of A. fruticulosa, including the type, examined by me have bracteoles compressed-thickened, but hardly “globoid” as stated in the key to the species by H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923). Additional specimens borrowed from California might clarify the situation; otherwise the two species are sufficiently close as to be treated as a single entity. (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, p. 363. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Pusillae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Arenariae | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | A. elegans var. coronata, Obione coronata | Obione coulteri | ||||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 114. (1874) | (Moquin-Tandon) D. Dietrich: Syn. Pl. 5: 537. (1852) | ||||||||
Web links |