Atriplex coronata
Atriplex holocarpa
crownscale, wedgescale
pop saltbush
branching, diffuse or procumbent, softly scurfy-tomentose.
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;
petiole to 1/2 as long as blade;
blade obovate or rhombic to deltoid, 10–30 mm, base obtuse, margin sinuate to serrate, apex irregularly toothed, acute.
of both sexes in small axillary glomerules, 5-merous.
in axillary glomerules, staminate in distal axils surrounded by pistillate flowers, these only and usually few together in most axils, very small and globular at anthesis.
light brown to amber, 1–1.5 mm.
broadly elliptic;
radical lateral, erect.
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, obovoid-globular, fused, scarcely compressed, 8–12 mm, of loosely fibrous and spongy consistency, with thin membranous epidermis and thin, inner membrane, opening at summit closed by 2 erect, appressed, entire or 3-toothed valves, apex shortly apiculate, not flattened at top.
= 36.
Atriplex coronata
Atriplex holocarpa
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.)
I have seen no specimens of this species and therefore it is not mapped. H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923) in discussion of the related Atriplex lindleyi (as A. halimoides) noted that it has “been grown in American gardens with the thought of using them as forage plants, but…has [not] been found suitable for general planting. P. G. Wilson (1984) indicated that the species is relatively widespread in Australia, mainly in southern parts, where it grows “often on flood-plains or sandy flats.”
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Stems ± erect; body of fruiting bracteoles ± semicircular in profile, compressed or ± spheric; tubercles dense; marginal teeth ± equal. | var. notatior |
1. Stems decumbent to ascending; body of fruiting bracteoles approaching circular or flabellate in profile, ± compressed; tubercles usually few; marginal teeth unequal | → 2 |
2. Fruiting bracteoles 2-4 mm; basal branches and leaves typically opposite. | var. vallicola |
2. Fruiting bracteoles (2-)4-5 mm; basal branches and leaves typically alternate | var. coronata |
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
