Atriplex parishii |
Atriplex pleiantha |
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Parish's brittlescale, Parish's saltbush, Parrish's brittlescale |
four-corners orach |
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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, branching from base, mainly 0.5–1.5 dm, glabrous or sparingly 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). |
alternate to subopposite, petiolate; blade ovate to suborbiculate, 5–18(–20) mm, about as wide, margin entire, apex obtuse to acute. |
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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). |
in short terminal spikes. |
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Seeds | dark brown or almost black, 0.8–1.5 mm. |
falling at maturity, black, 1.5 mm, shining, smooth. |
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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 short stipitate, compressed, 3–7 mm wide and about as long, entire; perianth consisting of 5 hyaline, sparsely ciliate scales 1–1.2 mm. |
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Atriplex parishii |
Atriplex pleiantha |
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Phenology | Flowering late summer–fall. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Salt-desert shrub community | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 1400-1500 m (4600-4900 ft) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA
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AZ; CO; NM; UT |
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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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 356. | FNA vol. 4, p. 345. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Pusillae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Pleianthae | ||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Obione parishii | Proatriplex pleiantha | ||||||||||||||||
Name authority | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 17: 377. (1882) | W. A. Weber: Madroño 10: 189, figs. 1, 2. (1950) | ||||||||||||||||
Web links |