Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex leucophylla |
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crownscale, wedgescale |
beach saltbush, sea scale, whiteleaf orach |
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Habit | Herbs, erect or decumbent, 0.5–6 dm; branches terete, fructiferous almost to base, scurfy when young. | Herbs, prostrate (decumbent or procumbent), many branched, 1.5–6 dm, somewhat woody below, coarse, white scurfy. | ||||||||
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, sometimes crowded; blade orbiculate to ovate or ovate-lanceolate to elliptic or oblong, 8–40 × 4–18 mm, base obtuse or rounded, white scurfy. |
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Flowers | of both sexes in small axillary glomerules, 5-merous. |
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Staminate flowers | in dense terminal spikes. |
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Pistillate flowers | in few-flowered, axillary clusters. |
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Seeds | light brown to amber, 1–1.5 mm. |
dark red-brown, 2.5–3 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 not compressed, 5–7 mm, faces usually with wartlike projections, scurfy. |
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2n | = 36. |
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Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex leucophylla |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | |||||||||
Habitat | Sea beaches, along coasts, at higher elevation inland | |||||||||
Elevation | 0-30 m (0-100 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
CA
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CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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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 leucophylla occurs with Potentilla, Camissonia, Ambrosia, Cakile, and Calystegia. (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. 366. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Pusillae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Leucophyllae | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | A. elegans var. coronata, Obione coronata | Obione leucophylla | ||||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 114. (1874) | (Moquin-Tandon) D. Dietrich: Syn. Pl. 5: 536. (1852) | ||||||||
Web links |