Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex gmelinii |
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crownscale, wedgescale |
Gmelin's orach, Gmelin's orache, Gmelin'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, monoecious, erect or ascending, branched from base or rarely simple, 0.5–8(–100) dm; proximal branches mostly elongated and often prostrate. | ||||||||||||
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. |
alternate, except the proximal-most; petiole 0.5–1.5(–2) cm; blade green on both sides, ovate to oblong or lanceolate to oblong, deltoid-oblong, or linear, 9–100 × 1–50 mm, base mostly rounded to tapering or more rarely broadly cuneate from a hastate base, margin entire or repand denticulate, apex acute or acuminate or more rarely obtuse, glabrous or nearly so. |
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Flowers | of both sexes in small axillary glomerules, 5-merous. |
glomerate in rather loose, spiciform inflorescences, and in axillary clusters; staminate ones 4–5-merous. |
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Seeds | light brown to amber, 1–1.5 mm. |
dimorphic: some small, black (lacking? in var. alaskensis), convex, 1.5–2 mm wide, lustrous, others pale brown, flat, 1.5–3.5 mm wide; radicle inferior or subascending. |
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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 darkening at maturity, sessile or stipitate, ovate or oblong to orbiculate, longest ones strap-shaped or ovate-lanceolate, mainly 4–10 mm, distinct nearly to base, margin entire or with (1 or) 2 or more teeth, apex acuminate to acute, often bulging on both sides of the impressed midnerve, at first mealy, finally glabrate. |
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2n | = 36. |
= 54. |
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Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex gmelinii |
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Distribution |
CA
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AK; CA; WA; BC; NT
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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.) |
Varieties 2 (2 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, p. 333. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Pusillae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Teutliopsis | ||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | A. elegans var. coronata, Obione coronata | |||||||||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 114. (1874) | C. A. Meyer ex Bongard: Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, Sér. 6, Sci. Math. 2: 160. (1838) | ||||||||||||
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