Atriplex glabriuscula
Atriplex holocarpa
bract orache, glabrous orach, scotland orache
pop saltbush
green and striped, often blue-green when fresh, weakly ridged, sparsely scurfy to glabrous.
branching, diffuse or procumbent, softly scurfy-tomentose.
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.
alternate;
petiole to 1/2 as long as blade;
blade obovate or rhombic to deltoid, 10–30 mm, base obtuse, margin sinuate to serrate, apex irregularly toothed, acute.
in loose glomerules, arranged in foliose, interrupted spikes or axillary, terminating stems and branches.
in axillary glomerules, staminate in distal axils surrounded by pistillate flowers, these only and usually few together in most axils, very small and globular at anthesis.
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.
broadly elliptic;
radical lateral, erect.
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 sessile, obovoid-globular, fused, scarcely compressed, 8–12 mm, of loosely fibrous and spongy consistency, with thin membranous epidermis and thin, inner membrane, opening at summit closed by 2 erect, appressed, entire or 3-toothed valves, apex shortly apiculate, not flattened at top.
= 18, 36.
Atriplex glabriuscula
Atriplex holocarpa
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.)
I have seen no specimens of this species and therefore it is not mapped. H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923) in discussion of the related Atriplex lindleyi (as A. halimoides) noted that it has “been grown in American gardens with the thought of using them as forage plants, but…has [not] been found suitable for general planting. P. G. Wilson (1984) indicated that the species is relatively widespread in Australia, mainly in southern parts, where it grows “often on flood-plains or sandy flats.”
(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 |
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