Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex graciliflora |
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crownscale, wedgescale |
Blue Valley orach, slenderflower saltbush |
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Habit | Herbs, erect or decumbent, 0.5–6 dm; branches terete, fructiferous almost to base, scurfy when young. | Herbs, branching from base, mainly 1–3 dm. | ||||||||
Stems | often suffused with red-purple, terete, sparingly farinose when young. |
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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. |
mainly alternate, numerous; petiole 2–12(–16) mm; blade cordate-ovate to orbicular, subreniform, cordate, or deltoid, (5–)8–20(–25) mm and about as wide or wider, base truncate to cordate (or attenuate when young), apex rounded to obtuse or acute. |
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Flowers | of both sexes in small axillary glomerules, 5-merous. |
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Staminate flowers | in loose, deciduous, terminal panicles overtopping foliage, rachis and branches filiform, glomerules often beadlike in alternate position along rachis, perianth 5-lobed. |
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Pistillate flowers | axillary. |
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Seeds | light brown to amber, 1–1.5 mm. |
white, 3 mm wide, dull. |
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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 on stipes 2–6 mm, samaralike, suborbicular, oblong or cordate in outline, winged, compressed, 6–16 mm wide, margins 2–4 times as wide as body, wings undulate or entire, surfaces smooth. |
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2n | = 36. |
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Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex graciliflora |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. | |||||||||
Habitat | Saltbush, mat-atriplex, seepweed, greasewood, rabbitbrush, and tamarix communities on saline, often salt encrusted and semibarren substrates derived from Mancos Shale, Tropic Shale, Entrada, and other fine-textured formations | |||||||||
Elevation | 1100-2000 m (3600-6600 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
CA
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CO; 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.) |
Atriplex graciliflora is unique among our indigenous atriplices in having samaralike, entire fruiting bracteoles. When the bracteoles are considered along with the slender, terminal, staminate panicles of alternating beadlike glomerules, the species is unmatched. Its relationship is apparently with A. saccaria, which has undergone considerable morphologic radiation within the Four Corners region. (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. 346. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Pusillae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Graciliflorae | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | A. elegans var. coronata, Obione coronata | Obione graciliflora | ||||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 114. (1874) | M. E. Jones: Proc. Cali f. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, 5: 717. (1895) | ||||||||
Web links |