Atriplex klebergorum
Atriplex wolfii
Kleberg orach, Kleberg's saltbush
slender orach, Wolf's saltweed
erect, diffuse;
branches alternate, numerous, horizontal or distally ascending, terete, 1.5–4 dm, densely white farinose when young, glabrate in age;
bark becoming pale brownish white and flaky;
internodes mostly shorter than 1(–2.4) cm.
simple or more commonly branched throughout, mainly 0.7–3.5 dm, branches terete;
herbage scurfy.
alternate, proximalmost subopposite, sessile;
blade ovate-deltoid, 0.5–1.5(–2.5) × 5–12(–15) mm, rather firm and flat, base rounded, truncate, or slightly clasping, margin entire or toothed, apex acute, very densely canescent-farinose with a greenish yellow tinge.
blade concolorous, linear to narrowly lanceolate, mainly 4–25 × 1–3 mm.
sessile, axillary, inconspicuous, mostly in leafy lateral branches with extremely short internodes, arising toward tips of secondary branches.
very small, both sexes in the same sessile, axillary clusters.
in most distal axils, 2 mm wide;
sepals 3–5, mostly hyaline, curved elliptic, 1.5–1.7 mm, mucronulate, farinose dorsally.
sepals 5.
densely farinose;
bracteoles adnate to ovary.
dark reddish brown, round-lenticular, 1.5 mm wide, shining;
radicle superior.
brown, 1–2 mm.
bracteoles variably and irregularly 3–7-cleft, ovate-orbicular, 3.1–4.7 × (3.2–)4–7 mm, typically somewhat constricted below middle, with terminal lobes (1–)1.5–2.8 mm, densely scurfy, faces doubly cristate or smooth.
bracteoles sessile, ovate to cuneate in outline, 1.5–2.7 × 1.1–2.1 mm, apex truncate to attenuate, faces smooth or tuberculate.
Atriplex klebergorum
Atriplex wolfii
Of conservation concern.
The species was noted by its author as apparently belonging in sect. Argenteae Standley; I concur with that alignment. The overall shape of the bracteoles with a subterminal constriction is reminiscent of those of Atriplex powellii, but the bracteole shape is otherwise distinctive, and the long marginal teeth and occasional elongate cristate processes on the faces are unmatched elsewhere in the Argenteae.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Fruiting bracteoles with lateral distalmost lobes much larger and broader than median one; sc Colorado | var. wolfii |
1. Fruiting bracteoles with distalmost lobe typically but not always larger and broader than any lateral lobes, comprising much of bract length; nw Colorado, sw Wyoming, and c to ne Utah. | var. tenuissima |
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
