Atriplex matamorensis
Atriplex garrettii
matamoros saltbush
Garrett's saltbush
terete, slender, densely leafy, rather sparsely and closely scurfy.
possibly Kranz type (difficult to determine), mostly opposite;
blade oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 2–5 mm, subequal to internodes, broadest at middle, apex acute, densely grayish scurfy.
opposite or subopposite proximally, or some alternate distally;
petiole 2–6 mm;
blade yellow green, ovate to obovate, elliptic, or orbiculate, 8–55 × 6–32 mm, base obtuse to cuneate, margin entire or repand-dentate, apex rounded to acute, sparingly scurfy.
brown to tan or yellow, in clusters 2–4 mm wide, on panicles 2–10(–15) cm.
solitary or in small, axillary glomerules in stout leafy spikes.
in spikes or spicate panicles 4–30 cm.
yellowish, 1 mm wide.
brown, 2 mm wide.
bracteoles sessile, suborbiculate, strongly compressed, 2–3 mm and broad, united to beyond middle, dentate to near base, triangular teeth acute, terminal 1 longest, faces 3-veined, scurfy.
bracteoles sessile or on stipes to 7 mm, body 4-winged, 6–10 mm and wide, toothed apically, surface smooth, reticulate, or with flattened processes, wings 3–4 mm wide.
= 18.
Atriplex matamorensis
Atriplex garrettii
The quelite cenizo is a very distinctive, small, bushy perennial with numerous, ascending branches and tiny leaves. It is here tentatively placed adjacent to the other dioecious, herbaceous perennial, Atriplex watsonii, from which it differs in many ways (compare descriptions). Possibly its near relatives are in adjacent Mexico, which is beyond the consideration of the present paper; certainly it is one of the most distinctive of the herbaceous taxa. According to H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923), the relationships of this species lie with A. watsonii, but it is more closely similar to A. elegans in the strongly compressed, nearly orbicular, and evenly dentate bracteoles. However, both A. watsonii and A. matamorensis have opposite leaves and share the feature of the pericarp being dilated around the thickened stigma bases.
(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. Plants mainly 2-6 dm; leaves 9 or fewer on first flowering branch of current growth; bract wings denticulate; staminate flowers commonly brown; talus slopes in canyons of the Colorado River, se Utah | var. garrettii |
1. Plants mainly 5-10 dm; leaves 7 or more on first flowering branch of current growth; bract wings deeply denticulate; staminate flowers yellow; vicinity of Navajo Bridge and Lee’s Ferry, Arizona | var. navajoensis |
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