Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex watsonii |
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crownscale, wedgescale |
Watson's orach, Watson's saltbush |
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Habit | Herbs, erect or decumbent, 0.5–6 dm; branches terete, fructiferous almost to base, scurfy when young. | Herbs, dioecious, prostrate or decumbent, 2–10 dm. | ||||||||
Stems | forming tangled mats 1–3 m across, woody at base, white scurfy. |
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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, mostly opposite; blade broadly elliptic to ovate, 8–25 mm, often surpassing internodes, thick and fleshy (when fresh), margin entire, apex acutish, white scurfy. |
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Flowers | of both sexes in small axillary glomerules, 5-merous. |
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Staminate flowers | in large glomerules in naked, interrupted terminal spikes; calyx 5-cleft. |
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Pistillate flowers | in small, axillary clusters. |
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Seeds | light brown to amber, 1–1.5 mm. |
light brown, 1–1.5 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 short stipitate, ovate to rhombic, united to beyond middle, 4–8 mm, margin entire to erose, faces plane. |
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2n | = 36. |
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Atriplex coronata |
Atriplex watsonii |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | |||||||||
Habitat | Coastal and insular bluffs, beaches, strands, salt marshes, sage scrub, with saltgrass and other salt-tolerant species | |||||||||
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.) |
Atriplex watsonii is a sprawling plant that exhibits much variation in leaf size, as attested in the clearly staminate type collection, Palmer 334, wherein the range in size is from 5–25 × 2.5–11 mm wide. Although typically placed adjacent to A. matamorensis, the other dioecious perennial, the two taxa are probably not closely allied. The broader-leaved phases simulate closely A. leucophylla, with which it is sometimes confused, and perhaps the relationship lies in that direction, but it closely simulates A. californica, with which it is probably most closely allied. (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. 367. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Pusillae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Californicae | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | A. elegans var. coronata, Obione coronata | A. decumbens | ||||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 114. (1874) | A. Nelson ex Abrams: Fl. Los Angeles, 128. (1904) | ||||||||
Web links |