Atriplex powellii
Atriplex coulteri
Powell's orach, Powell's orache, Powell's saltbush, Powell's saltweed
Coulter's orach, Coulter's orache, Coulter's saltbush
slender to stout, mainly 1–5(–7) dm, branching almost throughout;
herbage pubescent with scurfy and arachnoid hairs.
frequently tinged with red, much branched, sparsely scurfy.
alternate, proximalmost on petioles (3–)5–30 mm, becoming subsessile or short petiolate distally;
blade 3-veined, ovate to rhombic or orbiculate to elliptic, 0.4–5 × 0.2–3 cm, base rounded to cuneate, margin entire, apex acute to obtuse.
many, sessile or short petiolate;
blade obovate, oblong, oblanceolate, or elliptic, (5–)7–20 × 1–3(–5) mm, base cuneate, margin entire, apex acute.
with calyx 4–5-lobed.
in glomerules in distal axils and short terminal spikes.
in small axillary clusters.
greenish, yellowish, or brown, 0.9–2 mm;
radicle superior.
brown, 1.3–1.5 mm.
bracteoles sessile, ovate to oblong or broadly cuneate or pan-duriform, 1.5–5.5 × 1.5–5 mm, thick, united to apex, apex truncate to cuspidate or tridentate, surfaces with thickened processes or rarely smooth.
bracteoles sessile or subsessile, broadly obovate, 2–3 mm and as broad or about as broad, united 1/2 of length, margin free, deeply and sharply dentate, narrowed at summit, faces smooth or sometimes tuberculate.
= 18.
Atriplex powellii
Atriplex coulteri
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Of conservation concern.
Atriplex coulteri is closely allied to the geographically disjunct A. fruticulosa, from which it is said to differ in the compressed, small (2.5–3 mm) versus thickened and larger (3–5 mm) bracts. Specimens of A. fruticulosa, including the type, examined by me have bracteoles compressed-thickened, but hardly “globoid” as stated in the key to the species by H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923). Additional specimens borrowed from California might clarify the situation; otherwise the two species are sufficiently close as to be treated as a single entity.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaves mostly conspicuously 3-veined, proximalmost with petioles 0.5-2.5(-3.5) cm, distalmost bracteate leaves typically short petiolate; fruiting bracteoles easily discerned at bract bases; plants mostly dioecious; from Alberta and Saskatchewan s to Utah and New Mexico | var. powellii |
1. Leaves inconspicuously, if at all, 3-veined, proximalmost with petioles 0.5-1.5(-2) cm, distalmost bracteate leaves typically sessile; fruiting bracteoles apparent only by removing the subtending bract; plants evidently monoecious; local distribution in se Utah. | var. minuticarpa |
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
CA
