Flora of North America species comparison

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Atriplex obovata

Atriplex matamorensis

broadscale, mound saltbush, New Mexico saltbush, silver saltbush

matamoros saltbush
Habit Subshrubs, dioecious, clump forming, mainly 2–8 dm and as wide, woody at base. Herbs, dioecious, from woody taproot, erect or ascending, branching at base, sparsely branched distally or simple, 1–4 dm, woody at base somewhat scurfy.
Stems

stiffly erect;

branchlets terete.

terete, slender, densely leafy, rather sparsely and closely scurfy.
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.

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.
Staminate flowers

yellow, in clusters 2–3 mm wide, borne in panicles 6–30 cm.

Pistillate flowers

in small, very numerous glomerules in axils of elongated, terminal leafy-bracteate spikes or finally paniculate.

solitary or in small, axillary glomerules in stout leafy spikes.
Seeds

brown, 2.4–2.8 mm.

yellowish, 1 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, 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.

Atriplex obovata

Atriplex matamorensis
Phenology Flowering summer–fall. Flowering summer and fall.
Habitat Fine-textured substrates, with salt desert shrub and lower pinyon-juniper communities Saline soils, coastal areas, often along roadsides, other disturbed areas
Elevation 1500-2000 m (4900-6600 ft) 0-50 m (0-200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; TX; UT; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX; Mexico
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 371. FNA vol. 4, p. 367.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Californicae
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. nummularia, A. oblongifolia, 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. linearis, A. littoralis, 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. greggii, A. jonesii, A. obovata var. tuberata
Name authority Moquin-Tandon: Chenop. Monogr. Enum., 61. (1840) A. Nelson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 118. 1874, not Villars (1779)
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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