Atriplex obovata |
Atriplex gardneri |
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broadscale, mound saltbush, New Mexico saltbush, silver saltbush |
Gardner's orache, Gardner's sagebrush, Gardner's saltbrush, Gardner's saltbush, Nuttall's saltbush |
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Habit | Subshrubs, dioecious, clump forming, mainly 2–8 dm and as wide, woody at base. | Shrubs or subshrubs, dioecious or monoecious, 1–10 dm, unarmed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | stiffly erect; branchlets terete. |
prostrate to ascending, or less commonly erect. |
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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 or opposite to subopposite (especially proximally), sessile to petiolate; blade linear to oblanceolate, obovate, spatulate, or orbiculate, 5–55 × 2–25 mm, base cuneate, margin entire (rarely dentate), apex retuse to obtuse or rounded. |
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Staminate flowers | yellow, in clusters 2–3 mm wide, borne in panicles 6–30 cm. |
yellow or brown, in numerous clusters 2–4 mm wide, in spikes or panicles 2–30 cm. |
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Pistillate flowers | in small, very numerous glomerules in axils of elongated, terminal leafy-bracteate spikes or finally paniculate. |
in spikes or panicles to 30 cm. |
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Seeds | brown, 2.4–2.8 mm. |
tan or brown, 1.5–2.5 mm wide. |
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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 2–9 × 2–9 mm, bearing tubercles or wings or tubercles aligned in 4 rows or rarely smooth, apex toothed and usually with 2 or more lateral teeth. |
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Atriplex obovata |
Atriplex gardneri |
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Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Fine-textured substrates, with salt desert shrub and lower pinyon-juniper communities | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 1500-2000 m (4900-6600 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CO; NM; TX; UT; Mexico
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AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; MB; SK; Mexico
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Discussion | Varieties 7 (7 in the flora). This is a widely distributed complex of intergrading genotypes of great phenotypic plasticity. The members occur commonly in fine-textured saline substrates in much of the western Great Plains and in the Intermountain Region. Diploids, triploids, tetraploids, and hexaploids (and higher polyploids, all multiples of the base number 9) are known within the complex, and hybrids are known not only between the constituents but with the other woody species which they contact, i.e., Atriplex canescens, A. confertifolia, and A. corrugata. Indeed, a case can be made for treating both A. gardneri and A. canescens within an expanded A. canescens. They are regarded here as forming two intergrading complexes, with some of the constituent varieties placed equally well within either of the species aggregations. The treatment essentially follows the alignment of taxa suggested by C. A. Hanson (1962), with the exception that they are reduced to varietal status and var. bonnevillensis and var. aptera are placed within the A. gardneri phase and not with A. canescens. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | A. greggii, A. jonesii, A. obovata var. tuberata | Obione gardneri, A. nuttallii subsp. gardneri, A. nuttallii var. gardneri | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Moquin-Tandon: Chenop. Monogr. Enum., 61. (1840) | (Moquin-Tandon) D. Dietrich: Syn. Pl. 5: 537. (1852) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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