Flora of North America species comparison

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Atriplex lentiformis

Atriplex amnicola

big saltbrush, big saltbush, quail bush

swamp saltbush
Habit Shrubs, dioecious or less commonly monoecious, mainly 10–25(–35) dm, as broad or broader, unarmed or rarely so; branchlets terete, commonly puberulent. Shrubs, predominantly dioecious, mainly 10–15 dm.
Leaves

persistent, alternate, petiolate;

blade gray-green, deltate to rhombic, ovate, or oblong-elliptic, 5–50 × 5–50 mm, base truncate to subhastate, margin entire to repand or subhastately lobed, apex rounded to obtuse, scurfy.

short petiolate;

blade elliptic to narrowly oblong or narrowly hastate with short divaricate basal lobes, 10–25 mm, margin entire or remotely dentate, apex obtuse to acute.
Staminate flowers

yellow, in clusters 1–2 mm wide, borne in panicles 0.5–5 dm.

in compact glomerules 5 mm thick, forming terminal spikes.
Pistillate flowers

with less complex panicles.

in axillary clusters and forming short, dense terminal spikes.
Seeds

brown, 0.8–1.6 mm wide.

circular.
Fruiting

bracteoles sessile, orbiculate to oval, greatly compressed, mainly 3–4.5 mm and wide, crenulate, apex rounded.

bracteoles somewhat rhombic to semicircular, biconvex, 4–6 mm wide, with a short hard turbinate base, thick and hard throughout or with a herbaceous margin, lacking appendages.
2n

= 18.

Atriplex lentiformis

Atriplex amnicola
Phenology Flowering spring–fall. Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Saline to essentially non-saline drainages, stream and canal banks, roadsides, warm desert shrub, saltbush, and riparian communities Sea beaches
Elevation 70-1000 m (200-3300 ft) 10 m (0 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Australia [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Materials of big saltbush from the coastal and near coastal regions of California have somewhat broader, merely ovate, rounded leaves, and they have been regarded either at species level as Atriplex breweri S. Watson or at either varietal or subspecific level (see synonymy). The plants intergrade completely in interior situations with typical A. lentiformis, and their recognition at taxonomic level seems superfluous. C. A. Hanson (1962) noted the existence of putative hybrids between A. lentiformis and the herbaceous species A. leucophylla and A. davidsonii. Putative hybrids are also known between this species and A. canescens.

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

This is a singular, large, mostly dioecious shrub well established on the beach at Malibu, California. It produces abundant, hard, rhombic fruiting bracteoles. In its native western Australia, it occurs in coastal regions and inland along creeks and the outer margins of salt lakes.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 377. FNA vol. 4, p. 344.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Dialysex
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. graciliflora, A. heterosperma, A. holocarpa, A. hortensis, A. hymenelytra, A. joaquiniana, A. klebergorum, A. laciniata, 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. 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. spinifera, A. suberecta, A. suckleyi, A. tatarica, A. torreyi, A. truncata, A. tularensis, A. watsonii, A. wolfii, A. wrightii
Synonyms Obione lentiformis, A. breweri, A. lentiformis subsp. breweri, A. lentiformis var. breweri
Name authority (Torrey) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 118. (1874) Paul G. Wilson: Fl. Australia 4: 129, 322. (1984)
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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