Flora of North America species comparison

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Atriplex patula

Atriplex pleiantha

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

four-corners orach
Habit Herbs, monoecious or subdioecious, (1.5–)3–9(–15) dm. Herbs, branching from base, mainly 0.5–1.5 dm, glabrous or sparingly scurfy.
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.

alternate to subopposite, petiolate;

blade ovate to suborbiculate, 5–18(–20) mm, about as wide, margin entire, apex obtuse to acute.
Flowers

compact or interrupted spiciform or paniculiform clusters.

Staminate flowers

mostly 5-merous.

in short terminal spikes.
Seeds

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

radicle of brown seeds subbasal to median, antrorse.

falling at maturity, black, 1.5 mm, shining, smooth.
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 short stipitate, compressed, 3–7 mm wide and about as long, entire;

perianth consisting of 5 hyaline, sparsely ciliate scales 1–1.2 mm.
2n

= 36.

Atriplex patula

Atriplex pleiantha
Phenology Flowering summer–fall. Flowering late summer–fall.
Habitat Widespread ruderal weed of nonsaline substrates such as fields, gardens, and roadsides Salt-desert shrub community
Elevation 0-2100 m (0-6900 ft) 1400-1500 m (4600-4900 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; CO; NM; UT
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.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 333. FNA vol. 4, p. 345.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Teutliopsis Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Pleianthae
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. 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. patula, A. pentandra, A. phyllostegia, 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
Synonyms A. hastata subsp. patula, A. hastata var. patula, Teutiopsis patula Proatriplex pleiantha
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1053. (1753) W. A. Weber: Madroño 10: 189, figs. 1, 2. (1950)
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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