Atriplex gardneri |
Atriplex gardneri var. gardneri |
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Gardner's orache, Gardner's sagebrush, Gardner's saltbrush, Gardner's saltbush, Nuttall's saltbush |
Gardner's orache, Gardner's sagebrush, Gardner's saltbrush |
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Habit | Shrubs or subshrubs, dioecious or monoecious, 1–10 dm, unarmed. | Subshrubs, dioecious or sparingly monoecious, mostly 1–4 × 2–15 dm. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | prostrate to ascending, or less commonly erect. |
decumbent to ascending. |
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Leaves | ± persistent, alternate or opposite to subopposite (especially proximally), sessile to petiolate; blade linear to oblanceolate, obovate, spatulate, or orbiculate, 5–55 × 2–25 mm, base cuneate, margin entire (rarely dentate), apex retuse to obtuse or rounded. |
persistent or sub-persistent, opposite to subalternate proximally, alternate distally; petiole 4 mm; blade green, spatulate to oblanceolate or obovate, 12–55 × 5–12 mm, 2–5 times longer than wide. |
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Staminate flowers | yellow or brown, in numerous clusters 2–4 mm wide, in spikes or panicles 2–30 cm. |
dark brown or yellow (especially in the northern Great Plains), in glomerules 2–4 mm thick, in terminal panicles 3–18 cm. |
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Pistillate flowers | in spikes or panicles to 30 cm. |
in rather leafy unbranched spikes or panicles 10–25 cm. |
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Seeds | tan or brown, 1.5–2.5 mm wide. |
1.5–2 mm wide. |
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Fruiting | bracteoles 2–9 × 2–9 mm, bearing tubercles or wings or tubercles aligned in 4 rows or rarely smooth, apex toothed and usually with 2 or more lateral teeth. |
bracteoles sessile or stipe 2–5 mm, body globose to flattened, 3–6 × 2–4(–5) mm, terminal tooth to 1.5 mm, subtended with 2–4(–7) lateral teeth, surface densely, shortly tuberculate to smooth and free of tubercles. |
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2n | = 18, 36. |
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Atriplex gardneri |
Atriplex gardneri var. gardneri |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Greasewood and sagebrush-saltbush communities, mainly on fine-textured saline substrates | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 1400-2300 m (4600-7500 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; MB; SK; Mexico
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CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; SD; UT; WY; AB; MB; SK |
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Discussion | Varieties 7 (7 in the flora). This is a widely distributed complex of intergrading genotypes of great phenotypic plasticity. The members occur commonly in fine-textured saline substrates in much of the western Great Plains and in the Intermountain Region. Diploids, triploids, tetraploids, and hexaploids (and higher polyploids, all multiples of the base number 9) are known within the complex, and hybrids are known not only between the constituents but with the other woody species which they contact, i.e., Atriplex canescens, A. confertifolia, and A. corrugata. Indeed, a case can be made for treating both A. gardneri and A. canescens within an expanded A. canescens. They are regarded here as forming two intergrading complexes, with some of the constituent varieties placed equally well within either of the species aggregations. The treatment essentially follows the alignment of taxa suggested by C. A. Hanson (1962), with the exception that they are reduced to varietal status and var. bonnevillensis and var. aptera are placed within the A. gardneri phase and not with A. canescens. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4. | FNA vol. 4, p. 372. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton > Atriplex gardneri | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Obione gardneri, A. nuttallii subsp. gardneri, A. nuttallii var. gardneri | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (Moquin-Tandon) D. Dietrich: Syn. Pl. 5: 537. (1852) | unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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