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

Torrey saltbush, Torrey's quailbush, Torrey's saltbush

Habit Herbs, monoecious or subdioecious, (1.5–)3–9(–15) dm. Shrubs, dioecious, forming broad clumps, mostly (8–)1.2–20(–30) dm; branchlets striately and often sharply angled, glabrous or sparingly puberulent, often becoming bluntly spiny.
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.

persistent, alternate;

petiole 1–4 mm;

blade grayish or greenish, ovate to deltate, rhombic, oval, or lanceolate, typically subhastate, (5–)12–32 × 4–16(–20) mm, base truncate to obtuse, margin entire (rarely toothed), apex obtuse and apiculate.

Flowers

compact or interrupted spiciform or paniculiform clusters.

Staminate flowers

mostly 5-merous.

yellow, in clusters 1 mm wide, borne in panicles mainly 10–30 cm.

Pistillate flowers

in once-branched panicles.

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, 1–1.9 mm wide.

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, orbiculate, greatly compressed, 1.3–4 mm, about as wide, margin crenate, apex rounded.

2n

= 36.

Atriplex patula

Atriplex torreyi

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; NV; UT
[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 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Key
1. Fruiting bracteoles mainly 1.3-3.8 × 2-4.6 mm, orbiculate to subreniform in outline; petiole 2-4 mm; rather broad distribution, but not of Cochise County, Arizona
var. torreyi
1. Fruiting bracteoles mainly 3-4 × 5-6 mm, subreniform; petiole 1-2 mm; Cochise County, Arizona
var. griffithsii
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 333. FNA vol. 4, p. 378.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Teutliopsis Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton
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. 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. truncata, A. tularensis, A. watsonii, A. wolfii, A. wrightii
Subordinate taxa
A. torreyi var. griffithsii, A. torreyi var. torreyi
Synonyms A. hastata subsp. patula, A. hastata var. patula, Teutiopsis patula Obione torreyi, A. lentiformis subsp. torreyi, A. lentiformis var. torreyi
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1053. (1753) (S. Watson) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 119. (1874)
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