Atriplex obovata |
Atriplex confertifolia |
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broadscale, mound saltbush, New Mexico saltbush, silver saltbush |
shadscale, shadscale saltbush, sheepfat, spiny saltbush |
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Habit | Subshrubs, dioecious, clump forming, mainly 2–8 dm and as wide, woody at base. | Shrubs, dioecious, 3–8 dm, spinescent. |
Stems | stiffly erect; branchlets terete. |
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Leaves | tardily deciduous, alternate or proximal-most subopposite, shortly petiolate; blade gray green, oblong-ovate to elliptic or orbiculate, 8–30(–35) × 6–20 mm, margin entire or rarely dentate, apex rounded to retuse or obtuse. |
persistent, alternate; petiole 1–4 mm; blade orbiculate to ovate, elliptic, or oval, 9–25(–45) × 4–20(–25) mm, margin entire, apex obtuse. |
Staminate flowers | yellow, in clusters 2–3 mm wide, borne in panicles 6–30 cm. |
yellow, in clusters 2–4 mm wide or in spikes to 1 cm, axillary, in foliose-bracteate, divaricately branched panicles 3–15 cm. |
Pistillate flowers | in small, very numerous glomerules in axils of elongated, terminal leafy-bracteate spikes or finally paniculate. |
in similar paniculate inflorescences. |
Seeds | brown, 2.4–2.8 mm. |
1.5–2 mm wide. |
Fruiting | bracteoles sessile or substipitate, 4–5 × 5–9 mm, base broadly cuneate, margin sharply toothed, apical tooth subtended by 2–6 equal or smaller teeth, faces smooth or rarely tuberculate. |
bracteoles sessile or subsessile, suborbiculate to rhombic or elliptic, 4–12 mm and wide, body indurate, terminal teeth distinct, foliaceous, shorter than bracteoles, entire or toothed below, terminal teeth spreading at maturity, faces smooth, lacking appendages. |
2n | = 18, 36, 54+. |
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Atriplex obovata |
Atriplex confertifolia |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | Flowering spring–fall. |
Habitat | Fine-textured substrates, with salt desert shrub and lower pinyon-juniper communities | Gravelly to fine-textured soils in greasewood, mat-atriplex, other salt desert shrub, sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, and ponderosa pine communities |
Elevation | 1500-2000 m (4900-6600 ft) | 600-2200 m (2000-7200 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CO; NM; TX; UT; Mexico
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AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WY
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Discussion | Shadscale forms hybrids with Atriplex canescens, A. garrettii, A. corrugata, and A. gardneri varieties. It is, however, closely allied to A. parryi and A. spinifera. The plants are widely dispersed, typically on saline substrates but less commonly on essentially non-saline ones, through large areas of the western United States and adjacent Canada and Mexico, on both raw and exposed geological strata and on alluvium. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 371. | FNA vol. 4. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. greggii, A. jonesii, A. obovata var. tuberata | Obione confertifolia, A. collina, A. subconferta, Obione rigida |
Name authority | Moquin-Tandon: Chenop. Monogr. Enum., 61. (1840) | (Torrey & Frémont) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 119. (1874) |
Web links |