Atriplex patula |
Atriplex polycarpa |
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common orache, halberd-leaf orache, spear orach, spear orache, spear oracle, spear saltbush, spear saltweed, spearscal e, spearscale orache |
allscale, allscale saltbush, cattle saltbush, cattle-spinach, desert saltbush |
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Habit | Herbs, monoecious or subdioecious, (1.5–)3–9(–15) dm. | Shrubs, dioecious or sub-monoecious, mainly 10–20 dm. |
Stems | mostly erect and branched, branches green, obtusely angled or striate, glabrate. |
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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. |
tardily deciduous, alternate, sessile or nearly so; blade spatulate to obovate or oblong, 3–15(–2.) × 2–4 mm, margin entire, apex typically acute. |
Flowers | compact or interrupted spiciform or paniculiform clusters. |
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Staminate flowers | mostly 5-merous. |
appearing silvery, in clusters 1.5–3 mm wide, borne in paniculate, naked spikes 5–25 cm; anthers yellow. |
Pistillate flowers | with fruiting bracteoles sessile, cuneate-orbicular to semicircular, 1.5–2.5 × 2–3 mm, united to near middle, margin deeply laciniate-dentate, tuberculate or sometimes smooth dorsally. |
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Seeds | dimorphic: brown, 2.5–3(–3.5) mm wide, or black, 1–2 mm wide; radicle of brown seeds subbasal to median, antrorse. |
pale brown, 1–1.5 mm. |
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. |
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2n | = 36. |
= 18, 36. |
Atriplex patula |
Atriplex polycarpa |
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Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | Flowering spring–fall. |
Habitat | Widespread ruderal weed of nonsaline substrates such as fields, gardens, and roadsides | Warm desert shrub communities (creosote bush, ambrosia, shadscale, mesquite, saltgrass, etc.), mainly in fine-textured saline substrates |
Elevation | 0-2100 m (0-6900 ft) | 60-1500 m (200-4900 ft) |
Distribution |
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
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AZ; CA; NV; UT; n Mexico (Baja California to Sonora)
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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.) |
Atriplex polycarpa consists of two or more chromosomal races based on different polyploid levels. The races form hybrids with Atriplex canescens in south California, resulting in partially stabilized entities known as varieties laciniata and macilenta. The plants evidently form hybrids with A. lentiformis. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 333. | FNA vol. 4, p. 376. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Teutliopsis | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. hastata subsp. patula, A. hastata var. patula, Teutiopsis patula | Obione polycarpa, A. curvidensB |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1053. (1753) | (Torrey) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 117. (1874) |
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