Flora of North America species comparison

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Atriplex coulteri

Atriplex obovata

Coulter's orach, Coulter's orache, Coulter's saltbush

broadscale, mound saltbush, New Mexico saltbush, silver saltbush
Habit Herbs, perennial, sometimes flowering as an annual, spreading 0.7–10 dm, slightly woody at base. Subshrubs, dioecious, clump forming, mainly 2–8 dm and as wide, woody at base.
Stems

frequently tinged with red, much branched, sparsely scurfy.

stiffly erect;

branchlets terete.
Leaves

many, sessile or short petiolate;

blade obovate, oblong, oblanceolate, or elliptic, (5–)7–20 × 1–3(–5) mm, base cuneate, margin entire, apex acute.

tardily deciduous, alternate or proximal-most subopposite, shortly petiolate;

blade gray green, oblong-ovate to elliptic or orbiculate, 8–30(–35) × 6–20 mm, margin entire or rarely dentate, apex rounded to retuse or obtuse.
Staminate flowers

in glomerules in distal axils and short terminal spikes.

yellow, in clusters 2–3 mm wide, borne in panicles 6–30 cm.
Pistillate flowers

in small axillary clusters.

in small, very numerous glomerules in axils of elongated, terminal leafy-bracteate spikes or finally paniculate.
Seeds

brown, 1.3–1.5 mm.

brown, 2.4–2.8 mm.
Fruiting

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.

bracteoles sessile or substipitate, 4–5 × 5–9 mm, base broadly cuneate, margin sharply toothed, apical tooth subtended by 2–6 equal or smaller teeth, faces smooth or rarely tuberculate.

Atriplex coulteri

Atriplex obovata
Phenology Flowering spring–fall. Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Somewhat alkaline or clay low places, valley grasslands, coastal sage scrub, coastal slopes Fine-textured substrates, with salt desert shrub and lower pinyon-juniper communities
Elevation 0-500 m (0-1600 ft) 1500-2000 m (4900-6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; TX; UT; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 363. FNA vol. 4, p. 371.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Arenariae Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton
Sibling taxa
A. acanthocarpa, A. amnicola, A. argentea, A. californica, A. canescens, A. confertifolia, A. cordulata, A. coronata, A. corrugata, A. covillei, A. dioica, A. elegans, A. fruticulosa, A. gardneri, A. garrettii, A. glabriuscula, A. gmelinii, A. graciliflora, A. heterosperma, A. holocarpa, A. hortensis, A. hymenelytra, A. joaquiniana, A. klebergorum, A. laciniata, A. lentiformis, A. leucophylla, A. lindleyi, A. linearis, A. littoralis, A. matamorensis, A. mucronata, A. nudicaulis, A. nummularia, A. oblongifolia, A. obovata, A. pacifica, A. parishii, A. parryi, A. patula, A. pentandra, A. phyllostegia, A. pleiantha, A. polycarpa, A. powellii, A. prostrata, A. pusilla, A. rosea, A. saccaria, A. semibaccata, A. serenana, A. spinifera, A. suberecta, A. suckleyi, A. tatarica, A. torreyi, A. truncata, A. tularensis, A. watsonii, A. wolfii, A. wrightii
A. acanthocarpa, A. amnicola, A. argentea, A. californica, A. canescens, A. confertifolia, A. cordulata, A. coronata, A. corrugata, A. coulteri, A. covillei, A. dioica, A. elegans, A. fruticulosa, A. gardneri, A. garrettii, A. glabriuscula, A. gmelinii, A. graciliflora, A. heterosperma, A. holocarpa, A. hortensis, A. hymenelytra, A. joaquiniana, A. klebergorum, A. laciniata, A. lentiformis, A. leucophylla, A. lindleyi, A. linearis, A. littoralis, A. matamorensis, A. mucronata, A. nudicaulis, A. nummularia, A. oblongifolia, A. pacifica, A. parishii, A. parryi, A. patula, A. pentandra, A. phyllostegia, A. pleiantha, A. polycarpa, A. powellii, A. prostrata, A. pusilla, A. rosea, A. saccaria, A. semibaccata, A. serenana, A. spinifera, A. suberecta, A. suckleyi, A. tatarica, A. torreyi, A. truncata, A. tularensis, A. watsonii, A. wolfii, A. wrightii
Synonyms Obione coulteri A. greggii, A. jonesii, A. obovata var. tuberata
Name authority (Moquin-Tandon) D. Dietrich: Syn. Pl. 5: 537. (1852) Moquin-Tandon: Chenop. Monogr. Enum., 61. (1840)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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