Flora of North America species comparison

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Atriplex nummularia

Atriplex linearis

bluegreen saltbush, old man saltbush

slenderleaf saltbush, thinleaf fourwing saltbush
Habit Shrubs, semidioecious, mainly (15–)20–30 dm, with striated twigs. Shrubs dioecious, erect, mainly 10–25 dm; branchlets slender, terete.
Leaves

mostly alternate, short petiolate;

blade broadly ovate, rhombic to suborbiculate, (15–)30–65 mm, about as wide, thick, base cuneate, margin sinuate-dentate, apex obtuse to rounded.

sessile;

blade narrowly linear-elliptic, 10–50 × 2–3 mm, firm, revolute, often acute apically.
Staminate flowers

crowded in glomerules on short or elongate, interrupted spikes in large paniculate clusters to 20 cm.

in glomerules borne in slender interrupted mostly paniculate spikes.
Pistillate flowers

in dense, compound panicles, or axillary, or along staminate panicle branches.

paniculate or in few-flowered axillary glomerules.
Seeds

brown, 2 mm wide.

Fruiting

bracteoles sessile, reticulately veined, rhombic to orbiculate, 5–12(–15) × 5–11 mm, papery all over or thick and corky, margin subentire to coarsely few-toothed.

bracteoles sessile or subsessile, lanceolate to ovate, 4–6 mm, about as wide, each bract with a pair of thin wings 3 mm broad or less, irregularly dentate or laciniate, free tips of bracts much exceeding the wings.
2n

= 18.

Atriplex nummularia

Atriplex linearis
Phenology Flowering summer–fall. Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Sandy coastal bluffs, disturbed sites such as roadsides Saline deserts, with shadscale, Canotia, Yucca, Opuntia, Rhus, and Eriogonum
Elevation 0-2300 m (0-7500 ft) 0-800 m (0-2600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; Mexico; Australia [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; nw Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Atriplex nummularia is a rather coarse, broad-leaved, vigorous shrub, which has spread from some early introduction from Australia, possibly for use in stabilizing land.

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

Specimens of Atriplex canescens var. macilenta resemble A. linearis. The taxa have been placed together by some previous workers. Nevertheless, the stems of A. linearis are consistently more slender, the leaves proportionally narrower, and the bracts, though smaller, more closely simulate those of A. canescens. Its diploid nature signals a different evolutionary pathway than that for most of A. canescens, considered broadly. Narrow leaves occur within A. canescens, in the broad sense, sometimes with geographic correlation, sometimes not.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 343. FNA vol. 4, p. 381.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Dialysex Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton
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. lentiformis, A. leucophylla, A. lindleyi, A. linearis, A. littoralis, A. matamorensis, A. mucronata, A. nudicaulis, 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. 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. 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 A. johnstonii A. canescens subsp. linearis, A. canescens var. linearis
Name authority Lindley: in T. L. Mitchell, J. Exped. Trop. Australia, 64. (1848) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 24: 72. (1889)
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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