Atriplex holocarpa
Atriplex rosea
pop saltbush
red orach, red orache, redscale, tumbling orach, tumbling orache, tumbling saltweed
branching, diffuse or procumbent, softly scurfy-tomentose.
simple or more commonly divaricately branching throughout, branches terete;
herbage whitish scurfy to glabrate.
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.
alternate, short petiolate, blade prominently 3-veined, ovate to lanceolate, mainly 12–80 × 6–50 mm, margin irregularly sinuate-dentate and often subhastately lobed or rarely some entire, apex acute to obtuse.
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.
in axillary glomerules or interrupted terminal spikes.
with 4 or 5 sepals.
in axillary glomerules of 5–10.
broadly elliptic;
radical lateral, erect.
dimorphic: brown, 2–2.5 mm wide, or black, 1–2 mm wide;
radicle inferior.
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.
bracteoles prominently 3–5-veined, sessile or short stipitate, (3–)4–6(–10) mm and as wide, sometimes subhastately lobed at base, conspicuously dentate, sharply tuberculate to almost smooth on faces.
= 18.
Atriplex holocarpa
Atriplex rosea
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.)
At least some early collections were from ballast dumps at harbors on both coasts. It seems probable that the plants were quickly spread inland from initial centers of introduction by birds and more recently along railroads.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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