Atriplex glabriuscula
Atriplex gardneri
bract orache, glabrous orach, scotland orache
Gardner's orache, Gardner's sagebrush, Gardner's saltbrush, Gardner's saltbush, Nuttall's saltbush
green and striped, often blue-green when fresh, weakly ridged, sparsely scurfy to glabrous.
prostrate to ascending, or less commonly erect.
petiole 0.2–2.5(–3.5) cm;
blade all entire or some or all triangular or lance-hastate with lobes spreading to antrorse, 5–100 × 3–80 mm, base abruptly to narrowly cuneate, entire or irregularly toothed.
± 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.
in loose glomerules, arranged in foliose, interrupted spikes or axillary, terminating stems and branches.
yellow or brown, in numerous clusters 2–4 mm wide, in spikes or panicles 2–30 cm.
in spikes or panicles to 30 cm.
dimorphic: brown, 2.5–4 mm wide (often the only ones present), or black, (1.2–)1.5–2.9(–3) mm wide;
radicle median, ± antrorse, of brown seed basal and spreading.
tan or brown, 1.5–2.5 mm wide.
green, becoming black or reddish to yellow brown, sessile or some short stipitate, venation obscure, ovate-triangular to rhombic-triangular, 5–13 mm, margin united almost to middle, with few irregular teeth or entire, apex abruptly acuminate, faces irregularly muricate, tuberculate, or smooth, inflated, spongy inner layer strongly developed at bracteole base.
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.
= 18, 36.
Atriplex glabriuscula
Atriplex gardneri
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).
Members of the Atriplex glabriuscula complex occupy saline or brackish marshes and saline coastal strands mainly in the eastern maritime provinces of Canada, with extensions in similar habitats into the northeastern United States. They are seldom, if ever, ruderal weeds and appear to be indigenous or perhaps early introduced in some part from similar European habitats. The constituent taxa have been regarded at specific level (P. M. Taschereau 1972; I. J. Bassett et al. 1983). They are, however, alike in all major morphologic features, and are apparently closely allied. For those who wish to treat them at specific level, the names are supplied in the synonymy.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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.)
1. Bracteoles thin throughout; black seeds 2.0-2.9 mm; bracteoles entire or with tooth on each margin, ovate-triangular | var. acadiensis |
1. Bracteoles often if not always spongy-thickened at the base; black seeds rare or lacking, or of various size; bracteoles variously toothed | → 2 |
2. Bracteoles sessile or nearly so; inflorescence with leafy bracts throughout; black seeds rare (or lacking), 1.5-2.5 mm; United States and Canada | var. glabriuscula |
2. Bracteoles, at least some axillary ones, short stipitate; inflorescence with leafy bracts only near base; black seeds 1.2-2 mm; Canada | var. franktonii |
1. Fruiting bracteoles with 4 lateral wings or rows of tubercles; staminate flowers yellow or tan to brown; w Utah, e Nevada, and the w Great Plains | → 2 |
1. Fruiting bracteoles lacking lateral wings, tubercles, when present, often ± aligned; staminate flowers dark brown or yellow, but if yellow; different or various distribution | → 3 |
2. Staminate flowers mainly tan to brown; Great Basin | var. bonnevillensis |
2. Staminate flowers mainly yellow; w Great Plains | var. aptera |
3. Lower leaves opposite or subopposite; stems usually prostrate to ascending; from the Four Corners region n to Canada, and e to Manitoba, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and n Colorado | → 4 |
3. Lower leaves alternate; stems often ascending to erect; various distribution | → 5 |
4. Leaves mainly 1-2.5 cm wide, grayish green; bracteoles 5-9 mm wide, densely tuberculate; Uinta and Navajo basins, Utah, Colo rado, New Mexico | var. cuneata |
4. Leaves mainly 0.5-1.2 cm wide, green; bracteoles 2-5 mm wide, not tuberculate or the tubercles very short; ne Utah, n to Canada and w Great Plains | var. gardneri |
5. Staminate flowers mostly brown; fruiting bracteoles tapering to an acuminate apex, with apical teeth united 1/2 of length, lacking lateral teeth; Great Basin e to ne Utah, s Idaho, w Oregon, and e Washington | var. falcata |
5. Staminate flowers mostly yellow; fruiting bracteoles with apex either not acuminate or truncate, the apical teeth free, subtended by lateral teeth; various distribution | → 6 |
6. Leaves mainly 5-15 times longer than wide; pistillate flowers in spikes; Grand County, Utah | var. welshii |
6. Leaves mainly less than 5 times longer than wide, or if longer then of different distribution; pistillate flowers in panicles; Great Basin e to Wyoming and e Utah (and nw Arizona) | var. utahensis |
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