Flora of North America species comparison

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Atriplex patula

Atriplex argentea

common orache, halberd-leaf orache, spear orach, spear orache, spear oracle, spear saltbush, spear saltweed, spearscal e, spearscale orache

maidenhair spleenwort, silver orach, silver orache, silver saltbush, silverscale, silverscale orache, silverscale saltbush, silvery orache
Habit Herbs, monoecious or subdioecious, (1.5–)3–9(–15) dm. Herbs, simple or freely branched, 0.5–6 dm; branches rather stout, angled, scurfy when young.
Stems

mostly erect and branched, branches green, obtusely angled or striate, glabrate.

Leaves

alternate except the proximalmost, petiolate;

blade green on both sides, rhombic-lanceolate to lanceolate, oblong, or narrowly lance-oblong or hastate-ovate, 25–120 × 3–40(–75) mm, entire or toothed, proximal ones broadly cuneate or sometimes hastate subbasally with obliquely antrorse basal lobes, distal cauline leaves lanceolate and entire.

often opposite proximally, petiolate or distal bracteate ones subsessile, blade lance-ovate, lanceolate, deltoid, or cordate, 5–75 × 4–50(–75) mm, base subhastate or obtuse to acute, margin entire or essentially so, sometimes closely repand-dentate, apex obtuse to acute or rounded, scurfy (glabrous).
Flowers

compact or interrupted spiciform or paniculiform clusters.

in axillary glomerules and terminal, interrupted spikes.
Staminate flowers

mostly 5-merous.

borne in distal axils, or in short dense spikes or panicles, or intermixed with pistillate, with 4–5-parted calyx.
Seeds

dimorphic: brown, 2.5–3(–3.5) mm wide, or black, 1–2 mm wide;

radicle of brown seeds subbasal to median, antrorse.

brown, 1.5–2 mm wide;

radicle superior or lateral.
Fruiting

bracteoles green becoming black, rhombic to rhombic-triangular, or ovate-rhombic, compressed, ± uniformly sized, 2–7(–20) mm, base mostly hastate, acute, margin united almost to middle, entire or sparingly toothed, surfaces tuberculate.

bracteoles sessile, subsessile, or stipitate (stipe 0.5–5 mm), cuneate-orbicular, (2.5–)4–11.2 × 2–8.8(–14) mm, margin foliaceous below apex, subentire or dentate to laciniate, face smooth, tuberculate, or crested, processes sometimes again toothed, teeth then aligned with axis of process.
2n

= 36.

= 18, 36, 54.

Atriplex patula

Atriplex argentea
Phenology Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Widespread ruderal weed of nonsaline substrates such as fields, gardens, and roadsides
Elevation 0-2100 m (0-6900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AL; CA; CO; DC; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MT; NC; ND; NH; NV; NY; OH; PA; RI; SD; UT; VA; VT; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; QC; SK; YT; Europe; Asia; n Africa
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; KS; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OK; OR; SD; TX; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; SK; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Atriplex patula appears to have been a rather recent introduction in North America from Eurasia, not arriving perhaps until sometime in the early to mid-eighteenth century. It simulates depauperate specimens of A. dioica, A. glabriuscula, and other similar species when leaves are reduced to a near-linear profile. Such specimens are difficult if not impossible to assign to any of the species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Varieties 5 (5 in the flora).

Herbarium materials have tended to represent a catchall for annual specimens not readily assignable to other taxa. Indeed, the distinguishing features of the Atriplex argentea complex are shared singly and often in combination with other taxa. Only by use of combinations of features can this taxon be defined. Those features, with much variation, center around the broad, typically ovate to deltoid leaf blades (often definitely 3-veined) and more-or-less compressed, sessile to subsessile (or short stipitate), fruiting bracteoles on which the marginal processes, or teeth, are mainly aligned with the plane compression, and with the faces quite smooth to variously appendaged. Still some specimens are apparently intermediate with other species, especially with the closely allied A. saccaria, with which it is at least partially sympatric.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Plants low, rounded, mainly 1-3(-4.5) dm; fruiting bracteoles sessile or rarely some short stipitate, the appendages mainly acuminate or acute-attenuate; Nevada and adjacent se California, se Oregon
→ 2
1. Plants rather strict and often taller, mainly 2-4(-5) dm; fruiting bracteoles, at least some, short stipitate; appendages acute to less commonly acuminate to attenuate; other distribution
→ 3
2. Leaf blades typically, but not always, constricted to the petiole; herbage merely scurfy, or with elongate trichomes mainly on the fruiting bracteoles; Nevada (except the southern part), and adjacent se California and se Oregon
var. hillmanii
2. Leaf blades typically, if not always, cuneate to a winged petiole or merely sessile base; herbage copiously covered with elongate trichomes throughout, or mostly on the stems and fruiting bracteoles; Nye County, Nevada and adjacent Inyo County, California
var. longitrichoma
3. Leaf blades elliptic to oval, attenuate to a cuneate base; sw Colorado, se Utah, and nw New Mexico
var. rydbergii
3. Leaf blades triangular-ovate to oval, base broadly obtuse to acute or less commonly cuneate; various or other distribution
→ 4
4. Distal leaves short petiolate; proximalmost leaves alternate; plants mostly less than 4 dm; British Columbia to Manitoba, s through Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Idaho, Utah, e Nevada, Colorado, w Kansas, ne Arizona, nw New Mexico
var. argentea
4. Distal leaves sessile; proximalmost leaves opposite; plants mostly over 4 dm; California, s Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, w Oklahoma, w and n Texas
var. mohavensis
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 333. FNA vol. 4.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Teutliopsis Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Argenteae
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. parishii, A. parryi, 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. 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. 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. argentea var. argentea, A. argentea var. hillmanii, A. argentea var. longitrichoma, A. argentea var. mohavensis, A. argentea var. rydbergii
Synonyms A. hastata subsp. patula, A. hastata var. patula, Teutiopsis patula Obione argentea
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1053. (1753) Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 198. (1818)
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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