Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex parryi |
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crownscale, wedgescale |
Parry's saltbush |
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Habit | Herbs, erect or decumbent, 0.5–6 dm; branches terete, fructiferous almost to base, scurfy when young. | Shrubs, dioecious, mainly 2–5 dm, armed. | ||||||||
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. |
, short petiolate to sessile; blade orbiculate-cordate, or ovate-deltate to elliptic, 7–16(–22) × 6–10(–16) mm, base truncate or tapering, entire or less commonly subhastate. |
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Flowers | of both sexes in small axillary glomerules, 5-merous. |
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Staminate flowers | in glomerules on interrupted, leafy paniculate spikes. |
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Pistillate flowers | in small glomerules borne in leafy, paniculate spikes. |
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Seeds | light brown to amber, 1–1.5 mm. |
brown, 1.3–1.9 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 sessile or nearly so, truncate-flabelliform, 3–4 × 3–5 mm, thick and rigid, spongy, united to beyond middle, margin entire, faces smooth. |
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2n | = 36. |
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Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex parryi |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | |||||||||
Habitat | Saline, fine-textured soils | |||||||||
Elevation | 60-1500 m (200-4900 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
CA
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CA; NV
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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 parryi occurs with greasewood, saltbush, saltgrass, and Nitrophila. The cordate-clasping, sessile leaves and spiny branches distinguish this species from its nearest congeners. (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. 378. | ||||||||
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 | |||||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 114. (1874) | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 17: 378. (1882) | ||||||||
Web links |