Atriplex elegans
Atriplex coulteri
wheelscale, wheelscale orach, wheelscale saltbush, white-scale saltbush
Coulter's orach, Coulter's orache, Coulter's saltbush
ascending or procumbent to erect, stramineous or whitish, simple or much branched at base, obtusely angled in age, mainly 0.5–4.5 dm, slender or stout, scurfy to glabrate.
frequently tinged with red, much branched, sparsely scurfy.
many, subsessile or shortly petiolate;
blade elliptic to spatulate, oblanceolate, oblong, or obovate, 5–30(–35) × 2–8(–12) mm, base cuneate to attenuate, margin entire or irregularly dentate, densely scurfy abaxially, usually green and glabrate adaxially.
many, sessile or short petiolate;
blade obovate, oblong, oblanceolate, or elliptic, (5–)7–20 × 1–3(–5) mm, base cuneate, margin entire, apex acute.
with 3–5-parted perianth.
in glomerules in distal axils and short terminal spikes.
intermixed with staminate in small axillary clusters.
in small axillary clusters.
brown, 1–1.5 mm wide.
brown, 1.3–1.5 mm.
bracteoles subsessile or short stipitate, orbiculate, strongly compressed, 2–4 mm and as wide, united except at thin margin, margin dentate, terminal teeth often prominent, faces smooth or with cristate appendages (thornberi phase).
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.
Atriplex elegans
Atriplex coulteri
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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.)
1. Fruiting bracteole margin dentate to incised, teeth 0.5-1 mm; bracteole not especially samaralike; s California e to Texas, and Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora) | var. elegans |
1. Fruiting bracteole margin finely toothed, teeth 0.3-0.5 mm; bracteole appearing samaralike; s Cali- fornia and w Arizona | var. fasciculata |
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
