Atriplex coulteri
Atriplex oblongifolia
Coulter's orach, Coulter's orache, Coulter's saltbush
oblong-leaf orach, oblong-leaf orache
frequently tinged with red, much branched, sparsely scurfy.
many, sessile or short petiolate;
blade obovate, oblong, oblanceolate, or elliptic, (5–)7–20 × 1–3(–5) mm, base cuneate, margin entire, apex acute.
alternate above;
petiole 0.5–3 cm;
blade green on both sides or distal leaves whitish abaxially, triangular to lance-triangular, (20–)30–85 × 6–90 mm, base hastate or sub-cuneate, margin subentire, entire, or irregularly dentate, farinaceous at first, later glabrous.
in terminal or axillary ± paniculate inflorescences 6–25+ cm.
in glomerules in distal axils and short terminal spikes.
with 5 sepals.
in small axillary clusters.
dimorphic, all bracteolate and lacking sepals.
brown, 1.3–1.5 mm.
vertical; of large bracteoles yellowish brown, 2–3 mm wide, flat, dull; of small bracteoles black, 1.5 mm wide or less, shiny;
radicle of brown seeds subbasal to median and antrorse.
bracteoles sessile or subsessile, broadly obovate, 2–3 mm and as broad or about as broad, united 1/2 of length, margin free, deeply and sharply dentate, narrowed at summit, faces smooth or sometimes tuberculate.
loosely spaced, of 2 sizes; large fruiting bracteoles oval to ovate, 5–6 × 5 mm, with faces lacking appendages, small ones similar in shape, 2 mm and wide.
= 36.
Atriplex coulteri
Atriplex oblongifolia
Of conservation concern.
Atriplex coulteri is closely allied to the geographically disjunct A. fruticulosa, from which it is said to differ in the compressed, small (2.5–3 mm) versus thickened and larger (3–5 mm) bracts. Specimens of A. fruticulosa, including the type, examined by me have bracteoles compressed-thickened, but hardly “globoid” as stated in the key to the species by H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923). Additional specimens borrowed from California might clarify the situation; otherwise the two species are sufficiently close as to be treated as a single entity.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
I. J. Bassett et al. (1983) indicated that Atriplex oblongifolia formed abundant, very fertile hybrids with A. patula in the Botanic Garden at Manchester University. This is a weedy species with facies similar to both A. dioica and A. glabriuscula var. acadiensis. The proximal branches at least are opposite, similar to phases of the nearly allied A. patula, however. It is likewise an introduced ruderal weed of roadsides and other waste places. Its spread in North America awaits documentation. The thin, entire fruiting bracts without appendages are pointed to as diagnostic of this entity from other similar species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
BC
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
