Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex lentiformis |
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crownscale, wedgescale |
big saltbrush, big saltbush, quail bush |
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Habit | Herbs, erect or decumbent, 0.5–6 dm; branches terete, fructiferous almost to base, scurfy when young. | Shrubs, dioecious or less commonly monoecious, mainly 10–25(–35) dm, as broad or broader, unarmed or rarely so; branchlets terete, commonly puberulent. | ||||||||
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, alternate, petiolate; blade gray-green, deltate to rhombic, ovate, or oblong-elliptic, 5–50 × 5–50 mm, base truncate to subhastate, margin entire to repand or subhastately lobed, apex rounded to obtuse, scurfy. |
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Flowers | of both sexes in small axillary glomerules, 5-merous. |
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Staminate flowers | yellow, in clusters 1–2 mm wide, borne in panicles 0.5–5 dm. |
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Pistillate flowers | with less complex panicles. |
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Seeds | light brown to amber, 1–1.5 mm. |
brown, 0.8–1.6 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, orbiculate to oval, greatly compressed, mainly 3–4.5 mm and wide, crenulate, apex rounded. |
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2n | = 36. |
= 18. |
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Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex lentiformis |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | |||||||||
Habitat | Saline to essentially non-saline drainages, stream and canal banks, roadsides, warm desert shrub, saltbush, and riparian communities | |||||||||
Elevation | 70-1000 m (200-3300 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
CA
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AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico
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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.) |
Materials of big saltbush from the coastal and near coastal regions of California have somewhat broader, merely ovate, rounded leaves, and they have been regarded either at species level as Atriplex breweri S. Watson or at either varietal or subspecific level (see synonymy). The plants intergrade completely in interior situations with typical A. lentiformis, and their recognition at taxonomic level seems superfluous. C. A. Hanson (1962) noted the existence of putative hybrids between A. lentiformis and the herbaceous species A. leucophylla and A. davidsonii. Putative hybrids are also known between this species and A. canescens. (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. 377. | ||||||||
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 | Obione lentiformis, A. breweri, A. lentiformis subsp. breweri, A. lentiformis var. breweri | ||||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 114. (1874) | (Torrey) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 118. (1874) | ||||||||
Web links |