Atriplex coulteri
Atriplex tularensis
Coulter's orach, Coulter's orache, Coulter's saltbush
Bakersfield smallscale, Tulare orach, Tulare saltbush
frequently tinged with red, much branched, sparsely scurfy.
aging red, terete or obscurely angled, brittle.
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 opposite;
blade lanceolate to ovate, 6–20 × 4–8 mm, base rounded, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate, gray scurfy.
in glomerules in distal axils and short terminal spikes.
in small axillary dense glomerules, 4-merous.
in small axillary clusters.
solitary or in small axillary clusters, below or mixed with staminate.
brown, 1.3–1.5 mm.
dark brown, 1–1.2 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 sessile, rhombic-ovate, acute or acuminate, 2.5–3.5 × 2.2–3 mm, united to middle, thin margin toothed, faces plane, scurfy.
Atriplex coulteri
Atriplex tularensis
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.)
Of conservation concern.
H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923) discussed the relationship of this plant to Atriplex cordulata, noting that, “A. tularensis is a much more slender plant, the leaves are narrower in proportion to their length,” and tapering to the base, never at all cordate. They noted further, that “The fruiting bracts are sometimes very similar in shape, but those of tularensis typically end in an abrupt acute tooth not present in cordulata and both bract and seed are always smaller.” Because of its small fruiting bracteoles it was placed within the Pusillae by P. C. Standley (1916). The erect stature, coupled with distinctive spreading-ascending and stiff (at least in dried material) leaves, and foliose bracts apparently distinguish A. tularensis from A. coronata.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
