Atriplex parishii |
Atriplex laciniata |
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Parish's brittlescale, Parish's saltbush, Parrish's brittlescale |
Belgian orach, frosted orache |
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Habit | Herbs, erect or spreading to prostrate, 0.5–3 dm; branches almost horizontal to ascending, fragile, white scurfy or villous (in var. parishii). | Herbs, procumbent, many branched, alternate except basally, 0.06–3 dm. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | reddish or yellowish, smooth or subangular. |
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Leaves | numerous, all or nearly all opposite or almost all alternate, distal ones imbricate or widely separated, tending to recurve; blade lanceolate to ovate, (2–)4–10 × 3–8 mm, rigid, base mostly rounded to cordate, margin entire, gray to white, densely scurfy (or hairy). |
with blade ovate to lance-ovate or lanceolate to oblong, 15–45 mm, large basal lobes, obtuse, cuneate to a short petiole, margin sinuate-dentate, scurfy on both sides. |
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Flowers | in glomerules in distal leaf axils, axillary or in short terminal spikes. |
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Staminate flowers | mostly in distal axils pistillate in proximal axils, or mostly in terminal spike (var. persistens), or partly so (var. subtilis). |
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Seeds | dark brown or almost black, 0.8–1.5 mm. |
monomorphic, light brown, 3.5–4 mm wide; radicle inferior. |
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Fruiting | bracteoles sessile, ovate or rhombic, slightly compressed to thickened, 2–3.5(–4) mm and about as broad or sometimes broader, often subhastately lobed, united 1/2 of length, entire or with few teeth on each side, tuberculate on 1 or both faces. |
bracteoles whitish green, sessile or subsessile, broadly rhombic, (4–)6–7(–8) mm, thickened at base, becoming scaly in age, cartilaginous in basal 1/2, lateral angles strongly produced and with margin mostly entire, faces smooth or irregular, pointed, or flattened and winglike tubercles in basal 1/2. |
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2n | = 18. |
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Atriplex parishii |
Atriplex laciniata |
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Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Sand, cobble on more or less protected beaches, on Zostera and Fucus wrack | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0-50 m (0-200 ft) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA
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NB; NS; PE; QC; Europe [Introduced in North America] |
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Discussion | Varieties 5 (5 in the flora). The Atriplex parishii complex consists of a series of microphyllous, low clump-forming annuals apparently disjunct from each other in the Central Valley of California and in near coastal southern California. Often they occupy vernal pools that dry as the season progresses; the substrates in all cases evidently are saline or alkaline, or both. For the most part, the bracteate distal leaves are cordate to rounded at the base, and spreading to spreading-ascending, and the fruiting bracteoles are mainly less than 3.5 mm in length. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Atriplex laciniata is evidently rare in North America. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 356. | FNA vol. 4, p. 341. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Pusillae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Sclerocalymma | ||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Obione parishii | |||||||||||||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 17: 377. (1882) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1053. (1753) | ||||||||||||||||
Web links |