Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex pleiantha |
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crownscale, wedgescale |
four-corners orach |
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Habit | Herbs, erect or decumbent, 0.5–6 dm; branches terete, fructiferous almost to base, scurfy when young. | Herbs, branching from base, mainly 0.5–1.5 dm, glabrous or sparingly 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. |
alternate to subopposite, petiolate; blade ovate to suborbiculate, 5–18(–20) mm, about as wide, margin entire, apex obtuse to acute. |
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Flowers | of both sexes in small axillary glomerules, 5-merous. |
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Staminate flowers | in short terminal spikes. |
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Seeds | light brown to amber, 1–1.5 mm. |
falling at maturity, black, 1.5 mm, shining, smooth. |
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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 short stipitate, compressed, 3–7 mm wide and about as long, entire; perianth consisting of 5 hyaline, sparsely ciliate scales 1–1.2 mm. |
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2n | = 36. |
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Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex pleiantha |
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Phenology | Flowering late summer–fall. | |||||||||
Habitat | Salt-desert shrub community | |||||||||
Elevation | 1400-1500 m (4600-4900 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
CA
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AZ; CO; NM; UT |
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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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4. | FNA vol. 4, p. 345. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Pusillae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Pleianthae | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | A. elegans var. coronata, Obione coronata | Proatriplex pleiantha | ||||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 114. (1874) | W. A. Weber: Madroño 10: 189, figs. 1, 2. (1950) | ||||||||
Web links |