Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex pacifica |
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crownscale, wedgescale |
Davidson's saltbush, Pacific orach, south coast saltbush, south coast saltscale |
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Habit | Herbs, erect or decumbent, 0.5–6 dm; branches terete, fructiferous almost to base, scurfy when young. | Herbs, annual, prostrate, sometimes tinged red, 1–6 dm, forming tangled masses 3–10 dm diam., lightly scurfy when young. | ||||||||
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. |
numerous, sessile or proximal short petiolate; blade greenish adaxially, paler abaxially, oblanceolate to spatulate-elliptic or oval, (3–)5–18 × 1–8 mm, margin entire, more scurfy abaxially. |
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Flowers | of both sexes in small axillary glomerules, 5-merous. |
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Staminate flowers | in glomerules largely in distal bractless axils, thus short spicate; calyx 5-cleft. |
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Pistillate flowers | in proximal axils. |
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Seeds | light brown to amber, 1–1.5 mm. |
light brown, 0.8–1 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 subsessile or stipe to 0.3 mm, suborbiculate to obovate, 1–1.5(–2) × 1.1–1.8 mm, united to middle, margin minutely 3–5-toothed at apex, otherwise entire, apex green, faces smooth or rarely tuberculate. |
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2n | = 36. |
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Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex pacifica |
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Phenology | Flowering early spring–fall. | |||||||||
Habitat | Mainly on sea bluffs | |||||||||
Elevation | 0-100 m (0-300 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.) |
The name Atriplex ramosissima was published by Moquin-Tandon as a synonym, based on a name on a specimen in Nuttall’s herbarium. (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. 363. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Pusillae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Arenariae | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | A. elegans var. coronata, Obione coronata | Obione microcarpa, A. ramosissima | ||||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 114. (1874) | A. Nelson: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 17: 99. (1904) | ||||||||
Web links |