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sack saltbush, sack saltweed, stalk orach, stalk orache

shadscale, shadscale saltbush, sheepfat, spiny saltbush

Habit Herbs, erect, forming rounded clumps. Shrubs, dioecious, 3–8 dm, spinescent.
Stems

mainly 0.5–4(–5) dm;

stems usually branched from base, terete, stout, angled;

herbage scurfy.

Leaves

alternate or proximalmost subopposite, short petiolate or distal ones sessile;

petiole 2–5 mm;

blade cordate-ovate or subreniform to ovate to deltoid-ovate or oval, mainly 6–40 × 4–30 mm, base truncate to subcordate or broadly cuneate, margin entire or in some subhastately lobed or sometimes undulate-dentate, apex acute to rounded.

persistent, alternate;

petiole 1–4 mm;

blade orbiculate to ovate, elliptic, or oval, 9–25(–45) × 4–20(–25) mm, margin entire, apex obtuse.

Staminate flowers

yellow, in clusters 2–4 mm wide or in spikes to 1 cm, axillary, in foliose-bracteate, divaricately branched panicles 3–15 cm.

Pistillate flowers

usually in fascicles of 1–3 in proximal axils.

in similar paniculate inflorescences.

Seeds

brownish to whitish, 1.5–2.3 mm.

1.5–2 mm wide.

Staminate

glomerules in distal axils or in short, naked, terminal (early deciduous) panicles;

flowers with 5-parted calyx.

Fruiting

bracteoles monomorphic or dimorphic, larger ones on stipes (2–)4–8(–15) mm, others sessile, united at base, round-triangular or suborbicular, 4–6 mm, irregularly and coarsely dentate and with ± densely beset with flat, cristate, or hornlike appendages, smaller bracteoles (lacking or rare in var. asterocarpa) in same axils, oblong to cuneate, 3–4 mm, apex truncate, dentate only at summit, faces smooth.

bracteoles sessile or subsessile, suborbiculate to rhombic or elliptic, 4–12 mm and wide, body indurate, terminal teeth distinct, foliaceous, shorter than bracteoles, entire or toothed below, terminal teeth spreading at maturity, faces smooth, lacking appendages.

2n

= 18.

= 18, 36, 54+.

Atriplex saccaria

Atriplex confertifolia

Phenology Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Gravelly to fine-textured soils in greasewood, mat-atriplex, other salt desert shrub, sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, and ponderosa pine communities
Elevation 600-2200 m (2000-7200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; UT; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).

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

Shadscale forms hybrids with Atriplex canescens, A. garrettii, A. corrugata, and A. gardneri varieties. It is, however, closely allied to A. parryi and A. spinifera. The plants are widely dispersed, typically on saline substrates but less commonly on essentially non-saline ones, through large areas of the western United States and adjacent Canada and Mexico, on both raw and exposed geological strata and on alluvium.

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

Key
1. Leaves mainly ovate to cordate in profile, the distalmost bracteate ones (and sometimes all) often broadly so in age; fruiting bracteoles with stipes to 10 mm, but seldom exceeding 6 mm; Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, s to Texas
var. saccaria
1. Leaves oval to rhombic, the bases truncate to cuneate-attenuate; fruiting bracteoles with stipes of various length; sw Utah and adjacent states
→ 2
2. Leaves oval to suborbiculate or less commonly elliptic; fruiting bracteoles with hornlike appendages, borne on stipes mainly 2-6 mm
var. asterocarpa
2. Leaves rhombic to oval or triangular, base cuneate-attenuate; fruiting bracteoles with flattened processes, borne on stipes mainly 2-15 mm (sessile in some)
var. cornuta
Source FNA vol. 4. FNA vol. 4.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Saccariae 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. patula, A. pentandra, A. phyllostegia, A. pleiantha, A. polycarpa, A. powellii, A. prostrata, A. pusilla, A. rosea, 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. 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. saccaria var. asterocarpa, A. saccaria var. cornuta, A. saccaria var. saccaria
Synonyms A. truncata var. saccaria, Obione saccaria Obione confertifolia, A. collina, A. subconferta, Obione rigida
Name authority S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 112. (1874) (Torrey & Frémont) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 119. (1874)
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