Atriplex elegans
Atriplex covillei
wheelscale, wheelscale orach, wheelscale saltbush, white-scale saltbush
Coville's orach
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.
terete, sparsely scurfy when young.
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.
petiole to 1/2 as long as blade (becoming subsessile distally);
blade green or finally stramineous, (10–)20–50 × 6–30 mm, firm, base abruptly acute to narrowly cuneate, apex acute to attenuate, sparsely scurfy.
with 3–5-parted perianth.
in sessile glomerules in distal axils, often mixed with pistillate ones, staminate calyx deeply 5-cleft;
lobes obtuse, not appendaged.
intermixed with staminate in small axillary clusters.
with calyx of (1–)3(–5) hyaline sepals.
brown, 1–1.5 mm wide.
dark reddish brown, 1–1.5 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 stipitate, 6–12 × 4–7 mm, margin mostly 3-lobed, with elongate terminal lobe triangular to lanceolate, 2 short rounded lobes at base or sides merely rounded at base, united to beyond middle.
Atriplex elegans
Atriplex covillei
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Endolepis covillei was treated within the synonymy of Atriplex phyllostegia (Torrey) S. Watson by H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923).
H. C. Stutz et al. (1993) placed Atriplex covillei within Endolepis, based in large part on the presence of a perianth subtending the pistil within the fruiting bracteoles and on the lack of Kranz anatomy in the leaves. The pattern of venation is, nevertheless, very similar to that in species with Kranz anatomy. The presence of perianth scales in the pistillate flowers of A. covillei has been regarded as evidence of relationship with A. suckleyi. Despite placement of these taxa within Endolepis by Stutz et al. Atriplex covillei is possibly more closely allied to the morphologically similar and partially sympatric A. phyllostegia than it is to strongly dissimilar and the distantly disjunct A. suckleyi. Stutz and his associates placed great emphasis on the presence of reduced perianth segments subtending the pistil within the fruiting bracteoles of A. covillei. Calyces per se, otherwise known only in A. suckleyi and A. pleiantha, probably have arisen independently. Their presence does not necessarily indicate a close relationship. Stutz et al. pointed to other differences aside from the calyx of the pistillate flowers, and it is apparent that the two entities can stand as distinct species. To segregate A. covillei within a separate genus and to ally it with a species to which its relationships are obscure at best, stretches logic beyond reason.
(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 |
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