Atriplex lentiformis |
Atriplex leucophylla |
|
---|---|---|
big saltbrush, big saltbush, quail bush |
beach saltbush, sea scale, whiteleaf orach |
|
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, prostrate (decumbent or procumbent), many branched, 1.5–6 dm, somewhat woody below, coarse, white scurfy. |
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. |
many, sometimes crowded; blade orbiculate to ovate or ovate-lanceolate to elliptic or oblong, 8–40 × 4–18 mm, base obtuse or rounded, white scurfy. |
Staminate flowers | yellow, in clusters 1–2 mm wide, borne in panicles 0.5–5 dm. |
in dense terminal spikes. |
Pistillate flowers | with less complex panicles. |
in few-flowered, axillary clusters. |
Seeds | brown, 0.8–1.6 mm wide. |
dark red-brown, 2.5–3 mm. |
Fruiting | bracteoles sessile, orbiculate to oval, greatly compressed, mainly 3–4.5 mm and wide, crenulate, apex rounded. |
bracteoles not compressed, 5–7 mm, faces usually with wartlike projections, scurfy. |
2n | = 18. |
|
Atriplex lentiformis |
Atriplex leucophylla |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering spring–fall. |
Habitat | Saline to essentially non-saline drainages, stream and canal banks, roadsides, warm desert shrub, saltbush, and riparian communities | Sea beaches, along coasts, at higher elevation inland |
Elevation | 70-1000 m (200-3300 ft) | 0-30 m (0-100 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico
|
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
|
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.) |
Atriplex leucophylla occurs with Potentilla, Camissonia, Ambrosia, Cakile, and Calystegia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 377. | FNA vol. 4, p. 366. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Leucophyllae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Obione lentiformis, A. breweri, A. lentiformis subsp. breweri, A. lentiformis var. breweri | Obione leucophylla |
Name authority | (Torrey) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 118. (1874) | (Moquin-Tandon) D. Dietrich: Syn. Pl. 5: 536. (1852) |
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