Flora of North America species comparison

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Atriplex parishii

Atriplex matamorensis

Parish's brittlescale, Parish's saltbush, Parrish's brittlescale

matamoros saltbush
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, dioecious, from woody taproot, erect or ascending, branching at base, sparsely branched distally or simple, 1–4 dm, woody at base somewhat scurfy.
Stems

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

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

mostly in distal axils pistillate in proximal axils, or mostly in terminal spike (var. persistens), or partly so (var. subtilis).

Pistillate flowers

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

dark brown or almost black, 0.8–1.5 mm.

yellowish, 1 mm wide.
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 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 parishii

Atriplex matamorensis
Phenology Flowering summer and fall.
Habitat Saline soils, coastal areas, often along roadsides, other disturbed areas
Elevation 0-50 m (0-200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX; Mexico
[BONAP county map]
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.)

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.)
Key
1. Fruiting bracteoles persistent, ± thickened and/or tuberculate on 1 or both faces
→ 2
1. Fruiting bracteoles deciduous, compressed, faces smooth or tuberculate
→ 3
2. Stems, even in inflorescences, mainly over 1.5 mm thick; staminate flowers borne mainly in terminal spikes; fruiting bracteoles 2.5-3.5(-4) mm; Colusa, Glenn, Merced, Solano, Stanislaus, and Tulare counties.
var. persistens
2. Stems all or at least above, filiform, less than 1.5 mm thick; staminate flowers borne mainly in axillary glomerules, only sometimes somewhat spicate; fruiting bracteoles 2.4-2.8 mm; Fresno, Kings, Kern, Madera, and Tulare counties
var. subtilis
3. Plants with elongate slender hairs in inflorescences; foliose bracts of inflorescence spreading, tips ± recurved; plants of Los Angeles (or Orange), Riverside, and San Diego counties
var. parishii
3. Plants merely scurfy in inflorescences; foliose bracts of inflorescence spreading-ascending, tips not or not especially recurved
→ 4
4. Leaves all or mainly opposite, 3-7 mm; fruiting bracteoles with appendages not in rows, on abaxial surface only; Glenn, Solano, and Yolo counties
var. depressa
4. Leaves all or mainly alternate, 4-10 mm; fruiting bracteoles with faces smooth; Tulare and Kern counties
var. minuscula
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 356. FNA vol. 4, p. 367.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Pusillae 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. obovata, A. pacifica, 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
Subordinate taxa
A. parishii var. depressa, A. parishii var. minuscula, A. parishii var. parishii, A. parishii var. persistens, A. parishii var. subtilis
Synonyms Obione parishii
Name authority S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 17: 377. (1882) 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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