Atriplex obovata |
Atriplex suckleyi |
|
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broadscale, mound saltbush, New Mexico saltbush, silver saltbush |
Suckley's orach |
|
Habit | Subshrubs, dioecious, clump forming, mainly 2–8 dm and as wide, woody at base. | Herbs, spreading, branching from base, (0.3–)0.5–3(–4) dm and as broad. |
Stems | stiffly erect; branchlets terete. |
terete, often tinged with red, sparsely mealy or glabrous. |
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. |
numerous, alternate, sessile; blade lanceolate to elliptic or less commonly ovate, 7–35 × (2–)4–10(–11) mm, thick and succulent, base acute, margin entire, apex acute or acuminate, glaucous, sparsely farinose when young. |
Staminate flowers | yellow, in clusters 2–3 mm wide, borne in panicles 6–30 cm. |
in small glomerules, these in distal axils or in short, dense or interrupted, mostly simple, terminal spikes, perianth cup-shaped, frequently pinkish, lobes each with fleshy crest. |
Pistillate flowers | in small, very numerous glomerules in axils of elongated, terminal leafy-bracteate spikes or finally paniculate. |
solitary or few in leaf axils, calyx within bracteoles of 3 or 4, entire or lobed, distinct, obtuse, hyaline sepals. |
Seeds | brown, 2.4–2.8 mm. |
brown, 1.5 × 1.2 mm. |
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 small and difficult to find, sessile, ovate, 2 × 1.5 mm, membranous, united to apex, without appendages, scurfy, each pistil subtended by a perianth. |
Atriplex obovata |
Atriplex suckleyi |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | Flowering late summer–fall. |
Habitat | Fine-textured substrates, with salt desert shrub and lower pinyon-juniper communities | Alkaline or saline, typically fine-textured substrates, often on shale or clay barrens, sometimes with other Atriplex spp., sagebrush, and grasses |
Elevation | 1500-2000 m (4900-6600 ft) | (400-)1200-2200 m ((1300-)3900-7200 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CO; NM; TX; UT; Mexico
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CO; MT; ND; SD; WY; AB; SK |
Discussion | At specific rank, the epithet suckleyi clearly has priority. Stutz et al. (1993) resurrected Endolepis Torrey and placed within it two completely disparate species, E. dioica and E. covillei Standley [Atriplex covillei (Standley) J. F. Macbride]. The interpretation of the genus by Stutz et al. stands on the presence of perianth segments subtending the ovary within the fruiting bracteoles, lack of Kranz leaf anatomy, and other more equivocal characteristics. The shared features hardly indicate near affinity, however. The two taxa are otherwise grossly dissimilar. Fundamentally, the genus Endolepis as resurrected by H. C. Stutz et al. stands on the basis of a single character: the presence of perianth segments. Kranz anatomy rises and falls, both within subg. Atriplex and subg. Obione. Thus, coincidence of the non-Kranz criterion is subject to interpretation. Perianth segments subtending the ovary within the enclosing bracteoles, per se, appear to be of independent origin. And, the peculiar nature of the staminate calyx in A. suckleyi (a major determining condition in establishment of the genus Endolepis by Torrey) is not present in A. covillei. Certainly the two species included within Endolepis appear to be as closely allied to other species of Atriplex as they are to each other. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 371. | FNA vol. 4, p. 345. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Endolepis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. greggii, A. jonesii, A. obovata var. tuberata | Endolepis suckleyi, A. endolepis, A. ovata, Endolepis dioica, Endolepis ovata, Kochia dioica, Salsola dioica |
Name authority | Moquin-Tandon: Chenop. Monogr. Enum., 61. (1840) | (Torrey) Rydberg: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 1: 134. (1900) |
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