Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex covillei |
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Australian saltbush, berry saltbush, creeping saltbush |
Coville's orach |
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Habit | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, decumbent-prostrate, unarmed, mainly 0.5–8 dm and spreading to 15+ dm wide, unarmed, white scurfy when young; branches not angled. | Herbs, spreading, 1–4(–5) dm and as broad. |
Stems | terete, sparsely scurfy when young. |
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Leaves | many, alternate, subsessile or short petiolate; blade 1-veined, spatulate or obovate to oblong or elliptic, mainly 5–30(–40) × 2–9(–12) mm, base attenuate, margin remotely dentate to subentire, apex obtuse. |
petiole to 1/2 as long as blade (becoming subsessile distally); blade green or finally stramineous, (10–)20–50 × 6–30 mm, firm, base abruptly acute to narrowly cuneate, apex acute to attenuate, sparsely scurfy. |
Staminate flowers | in small, terminal, leaf-bracteate glomerules 1.5 mm wide. |
in sessile glomerules in distal axils, often mixed with pistillate ones, staminate calyx deeply 5-cleft; lobes obtuse, not appendaged. |
Pistillate flowers | solitary or in few-flowered clusters in almost all but distalmost leaves. |
with calyx of (1–)3(–5) hyaline sepals. |
Seeds | dimorphic: black, 1.5–1.7 mm, or brown, 2 mm. |
dark reddish brown, 1–1.5 mm. |
Fruiting | bracteoles red-fleshy at maturity, sessile or short stipitate, strongly veined, rhombic, convex, 3–6.6 × 2.8–4.5 mm, united at base, margin toothed, apex obtuse to acute. |
bracteoles sessile or stipitate, 6–12 × 4–7 mm, margin mostly 3-lobed, with elongate terminal lobe triangular to lanceolate, 2 short rounded lobes at base or sides merely rounded at base, united to beyond middle. |
2n | = 18. |
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Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex covillei |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–early winter. | Flowering summer–fall. |
Habitat | Saline waste places, along roads and sidewalks, in marshes, in various plant communities | Mixed saltbush-greasewood, rabbitbrush, warm desert shrub, and salt grass communities in saline substrates |
Elevation | 10-1000 m (0-3300 ft) | 800-1700 m (2600-5600 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; DC; NM; NV; TX; UT; WA; Australia [Introduced in North America]
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CA; NV; OR |
Discussion | The red-fleshy fruiting bracteoles are diagnostic of this introduced perennial, which is multi-stemmed from an often buried woody caudex. The Australian species Atriplex muelleri Bentham is somewhat similar. It has been has reported, but not verified, in the North American flora. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Endolepis covillei was treated within the synonymy of Atriplex phyllostegia (Torrey) S. Watson by H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923). H. C. Stutz et al. (1993) placed Atriplex covillei within Endolepis, based in large part on the presence of a perianth subtending the pistil within the fruiting bracteoles and on the lack of Kranz anatomy in the leaves. The pattern of venation is, nevertheless, very similar to that in species with Kranz anatomy. The presence of perianth scales in the pistillate flowers of A. covillei has been regarded as evidence of relationship with A. suckleyi. Despite placement of these taxa within Endolepis by Stutz et al. Atriplex covillei is possibly more closely allied to the morphologically similar and partially sympatric A. phyllostegia than it is to strongly dissimilar and the distantly disjunct A. suckleyi. Stutz and his associates placed great emphasis on the presence of reduced perianth segments subtending the pistil within the fruiting bracteoles of A. covillei. Calyces per se, otherwise known only in A. suckleyi and A. pleiantha, probably have arisen independently. Their presence does not necessarily indicate a close relationship. Stutz et al. pointed to other differences aside from the calyx of the pistillate flowers, and it is apparent that the two entities can stand as distinct species. To segregate A. covillei within a separate genus and to ally it with a species to which its relationships are obscure at best, stretches logic beyond reason. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 343. | FNA vol. 4. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Semibaccata | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Covilleiae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. flagellaris | Endolepis covillei |
Name authority | R. Brown: Prodr., 406. (1810) | (Standley) J. F. Macbride: Contr. Gray Herb. 53: 11. (1918) |
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