Atriplex obovata |
Atriplex graciliflora |
|
---|---|---|
broadscale, mound saltbush, New Mexico saltbush, silver saltbush |
Blue Valley orach, slenderflower saltbush |
|
Habit | Subshrubs, dioecious, clump forming, mainly 2–8 dm and as wide, woody at base. | Herbs, branching from base, mainly 1–3 dm. |
Stems | stiffly erect; branchlets terete. |
often suffused with red-purple, terete, sparingly farinose when young. |
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. |
mainly alternate, numerous; petiole 2–12(–16) mm; blade cordate-ovate to orbicular, subreniform, cordate, or deltoid, (5–)8–20(–25) mm and about as wide or wider, base truncate to cordate (or attenuate when young), apex rounded to obtuse or acute. |
Staminate flowers | yellow, in clusters 2–3 mm wide, borne in panicles 6–30 cm. |
in loose, deciduous, terminal panicles overtopping foliage, rachis and branches filiform, glomerules often beadlike in alternate position along rachis, perianth 5-lobed. |
Pistillate flowers | in small, very numerous glomerules in axils of elongated, terminal leafy-bracteate spikes or finally paniculate. |
axillary. |
Seeds | brown, 2.4–2.8 mm. |
white, 3 mm wide, dull. |
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 on stipes 2–6 mm, samaralike, suborbicular, oblong or cordate in outline, winged, compressed, 6–16 mm wide, margins 2–4 times as wide as body, wings undulate or entire, surfaces smooth. |
Atriplex obovata |
Atriplex graciliflora |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Fine-textured substrates, with salt desert shrub and lower pinyon-juniper communities | Saltbush, mat-atriplex, seepweed, greasewood, rabbitbrush, and tamarix communities on saline, often salt encrusted and semibarren substrates derived from Mancos Shale, Tropic Shale, Entrada, and other fine-textured formations |
Elevation | 1500-2000 m (4900-6600 ft) | 1100-2000 m (3600-6600 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CO; NM; TX; UT; Mexico
|
CO; UT |
Discussion | Atriplex graciliflora is unique among our indigenous atriplices in having samaralike, entire fruiting bracteoles. When the bracteoles are considered along with the slender, terminal, staminate panicles of alternating beadlike glomerules, the species is unmatched. Its relationship is apparently with A. saccaria, which has undergone considerable morphologic radiation within the Four Corners region. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 371. | FNA vol. 4, p. 346. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Graciliflorae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. greggii, A. jonesii, A. obovata var. tuberata | Obione graciliflora |
Name authority | Moquin-Tandon: Chenop. Monogr. Enum., 61. (1840) | M. E. Jones: Proc. Cali f. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, 5: 717. (1895) |
Web links |