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 lentiformis

Atriplex cordulata

big saltbrush, big saltbush, quail bush

heart-leaf orach, heartscale
Habit Shrubs, dioecious or less commonly monoecious, mainly 10–25(–35) dm, as broad or broader, unarmed or rarely so; branchlets terete, commonly puberulent. Herbs, erect, simple, oppositely or alternately branched from base and sparingly so distally, rigid, scurfy, 1–5 dm.
Stems

slender to rather coarse, initially erect-ascending, finally spreading-ascending, scurfy when young.
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.

alternate except proximalmost ones, blade ovate to cordate-ovate, 5–15(–20) × 3–10(–13) mm;

base mostly cordate (to rounded), margin entire or denticulate, apex acute to attenuate, thickish and scurfy-tomentose.
Flowers

of both sexes mixed in small axillary clusters.
Staminate flowers

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

in glomerules in distal axils, 4–5-merous.
Pistillate flowers

with less complex panicles.

Seeds

brown, 0.8–1.6 mm wide.

deep red-brown, 1.5–1.8 mm.
Fruiting

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

bracteoles sessile or subsessile, round-ovate (semi-orbiculate) to deltoid-rhombic or flabellate, slightly compressed, 3–5 mm and as broad, united to middle, deeply toothed, margin with acute teeth, terminal tooth subequal to others or largest, thin and soft at margin, hard at center, scarcely though sometimes tuberculate on faces.
2n

= 18.

= 36, 54.

Atriplex lentiformis

Atriplex cordulata
Phenology Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Saline to essentially non-saline drainages, stream and canal banks, roadsides, warm desert shrub, saltbush, and riparian communities
Elevation 70-1000 m (200-3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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.)

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Anthers red or purple; fruiting bracteoles 4-5 mm, central tooth largest; wc California
var. cordulata
1. Anthers yellow; fruiting bracteoles 3-3.5 mm, central tooth subequal to lateral; Kern, Kings, and Tulare counties, California
var. erecticaulis
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 377. FNA vol. 4, p. 358.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Pusillae
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. amnicola, A. argentea, A. californica, A. canescens, A. confertifolia, 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
Subordinate taxa
A. cordulata var. cordulata, A. cordulata var. erecticaulis
Synonyms Obione lentiformis, A. breweri, A. lentiformis subsp. breweri, A. lentiformis var. breweri Obione cordulata
Name authority (Torrey) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 118. (1874) Jepson: Pittonia 2: 304. (1892)
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

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