Flora of North America species comparison

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Atriplex graciliflora

Atriplex spinifera

Blue Valley orach, slenderflower saltbush

spinescale saltbush, spiny saltbush
Habit Herbs, branching from base, mainly 1–3 dm. Shrubs, dioecious, erect, intricately much branched, mainly 3–15 dm; branchlets terete, becoming rigid and spinose.
Stems

often suffused with red-purple, terete, sparingly farinose when young.

Leaves

mainly alternate, numerous;

petiole 2–12(–16) mm;

blade cordate-ovate to orbicular, subreniform, cordate, or deltoid, (5–)8–20(–25) mm and about as wide or wider, base truncate to cordate (or attenuate when young), apex rounded to obtuse or acute.

short petiolate to sessile;

blade ovate-deltate to elliptic or spatulate, (5–)10–27 mm, entire or subhastate.
Staminate flowers

in loose, deciduous, terminal panicles overtopping foliage, rachis and branches filiform, glomerules often beadlike in alternate position along rachis, perianth 5-lobed.

borne in small axillary glomerules.
Pistillate flowers

axillary.

borne solitary or few in bract axils on short, spinose, lateral branchlets of a paniculate inflorescence.
Seeds

white, 3 mm wide, dull.

reddish brown, 2–2.8 mm.
Fruiting

bracteoles on stipes 2–6 mm, samaralike, suborbicular, oblong or cordate in outline, winged, compressed, 6–16 mm wide, margins 2–4 times as wide as body, wings undulate or entire, surfaces smooth.

bracteoles sessile or nearly so, body globose, connate, constricted below oblong to orbicular wings, 7–15 ×3.5–10 mm, entire or obscurely dentate, faces smooth to sparingly cristate.

Atriplex graciliflora

Atriplex spinifera
Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Saltbush, mat-atriplex, seepweed, greasewood, rabbitbrush, and tamarix communities on saline, often salt encrusted and semibarren substrates derived from Mancos Shale, Tropic Shale, Entrada, and other fine-textured formations Xeric saline substrates, with mixed salt desert shrubs
Elevation 1100-2000 m (3600-6600 ft) 30-1300 m (100-4300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; UT
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Atriplex graciliflora is unique among our indigenous atriplices in having samaralike, entire fruiting bracteoles. When the bracteoles are considered along with the slender, terminal, staminate panicles of alternating beadlike glomerules, the species is unmatched. Its relationship is apparently with A. saccaria, which has undergone considerable morphologic radiation within the Four Corners region.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Spiny saltbush apparently forms occasional hybrids with phases of Atriplex canescens, as indicated by the presence of wings on some of the fruiting bracteoles.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 346. FNA vol. 4, p. 377.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Graciliflorae Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton
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. gmelinii, 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
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. gmelinii, 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. suberecta, A. suckleyi, A. tatarica, A. torreyi, A. truncata, A. tularensis, A. watsonii, A. wolfii, A. wrightii
Synonyms Obione graciliflora
Name authority M. E. Jones: Proc. Cali f. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, 5: 717. (1895) J. F. Macbride: Contr. Gray Herb. 53: 11. (1918)
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).



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