Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Atriplex gmelinii

Gmelin's orach, Gmelin's orache, Gmelin's saltbush
Habit Herbs, monoecious, erect or ascending, branched from base or rarely simple, 0.5–8(–100) dm; proximal branches mostly elongated and often prostrate.
Leaves

alternate, except the proximal-most;

petiole 0.5–1.5(–2) cm;

blade green on both sides, ovate to oblong or lanceolate to oblong, deltoid-oblong, or linear, 9–100 × 1–50 mm, base mostly rounded to tapering or more rarely broadly cuneate from a hastate base, margin entire or repand denticulate, apex acute or acuminate or more rarely obtuse, glabrous or nearly so.
Flowers

glomerate in rather loose, spiciform inflorescences, and in axillary clusters; staminate ones 4–5-merous.
Seeds

dimorphic: some small, black (lacking? in var. alaskensis), convex, 1.5–2 mm wide, lustrous, others pale brown, flat, 1.5–3.5 mm wide;

radicle inferior or subascending.
Fruiting

bracteoles darkening at maturity, sessile or stipitate, ovate or oblong to orbiculate, longest ones strap-shaped or ovate-lanceolate, mainly 4–10 mm, distinct nearly to base, margin entire or with (1 or) 2 or more teeth, apex acuminate to acute, often bulging on both sides of the impressed midnerve, at first mealy, finally glabrate.
2n

= 54.

Atriplex gmelinii
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; WA; BC; NT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Brown seeds 1.7-3 mm wide; fruiting bracteoles mostly less than 10 mm; leaf blades mainly oblong to lance-oblong or linear, less commonly hastate-lanceolate
var. gmelinii
1. Brown seeds 2.8-3.5 mm wide; fruiting bracteoles often more than 10 mm; leaf blades oblong to lanceolate or hastate-lanceolate or -ovate
var. alaskensis
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 333.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Teutliopsis
Sibling taxa
A. acanthocarpa, A. amnicola, A. argentea, A. californica, A. canescens, A. confertifolia, A. cordulata, A. coronata, A. corrugata, A. coulteri, A. covillei, A. dioica, A. elegans, A. fruticulosa, A. gardneri, A. garrettii, A. glabriuscula, A. graciliflora, A. heterosperma, A. holocarpa, A. hortensis, A. hymenelytra, A. joaquiniana, A. klebergorum, A. laciniata, A. lentiformis, A. leucophylla, A. lindleyi, A. linearis, A. littoralis, A. matamorensis, A. mucronata, A. nudicaulis, A. nummularia, A. oblongifolia, A. obovata, A. pacifica, A. parishii, A. parryi, A. patula, A. pentandra, A. phyllostegia, A. pleiantha, A. polycarpa, A. powellii, A. prostrata, A. pusilla, A. rosea, A. saccaria, A. semibaccata, A. serenana, A. spinifera, A. suberecta, A. suckleyi, A. tatarica, A. torreyi, A. truncata, A. tularensis, A. watsonii, A. wolfii, A. wrightii
Subordinate taxa
A. gmelinii var. alaskensis, A. gmelinii var. gmelinii
Name authority C. A. Meyer ex Bongard: Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, Sér. 6, Sci. Math. 2: 160. (1838)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers