Atriplex coulteri
Atriplex saccaria
Coulter's orach, Coulter's orache, Coulter's saltbush
sack saltbush, sack saltweed, stalk orach, stalk orache
frequently tinged with red, much branched, sparsely scurfy.
mainly 0.5–4(–5) dm;
stems usually branched from base, terete, stout, angled;
herbage 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 or proximalmost subopposite, short petiolate or distal ones sessile;
petiole 2–5 mm;
blade cordate-ovate or subreniform to ovate to deltoid-ovate or oval, mainly 6–40 × 4–30 mm, base truncate to subcordate or broadly cuneate, margin entire or in some subhastately lobed or sometimes undulate-dentate, apex acute to rounded.
in glomerules in distal axils and short terminal spikes.
in small axillary clusters.
usually in fascicles of 1–3 in proximal axils.
brown, 1.3–1.5 mm.
brownish to whitish, 1.5–2.3 mm.
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 monomorphic or dimorphic, larger ones on stipes (2–)4–8(–15) mm, others sessile, united at base, round-triangular or suborbicular, 4–6 mm, irregularly and coarsely dentate and with ± densely beset with flat, cristate, or hornlike appendages, smaller bracteoles (lacking or rare in var. asterocarpa) in same axils, oblong to cuneate, 3–4 mm, apex truncate, dentate only at summit, faces smooth.
glomerules in distal axils or in short, naked, terminal (early deciduous) panicles;
flowers with 5-parted calyx.
= 18.
Atriplex coulteri
Atriplex saccaria
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.)
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaves mainly ovate to cordate in profile, the distalmost bracteate ones (and sometimes all) often broadly so in age; fruiting bracteoles with stipes to 10 mm, but seldom exceeding 6 mm; Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, s to Texas | var. saccaria |
1. Leaves oval to rhombic, the bases truncate to cuneate-attenuate; fruiting bracteoles with stipes of various length; sw Utah and adjacent states | → 2 |
2. Leaves oval to suborbiculate or less commonly elliptic; fruiting bracteoles with hornlike appendages, borne on stipes mainly 2-6 mm | var. asterocarpa |
2. Leaves rhombic to oval or triangular, base cuneate-attenuate; fruiting bracteoles with flattened processes, borne on stipes mainly 2-15 mm (sessile in some) | var. cornuta |
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
