Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex holocarpa |
|
---|---|---|
Australian saltbush, berry saltbush, creeping saltbush |
pop saltbush |
|
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, annual or short-lived perennial, 1.5–3 dm, with a hard subligneous base. |
Stems | branching, diffuse or procumbent, softly scurfy-tomentose. |
|
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. |
alternate; petiole to 1/2 as long as blade; blade obovate or rhombic to deltoid, 10–30 mm, base obtuse, margin sinuate to serrate, apex irregularly toothed, acute. |
Flowers | in axillary glomerules, staminate in distal axils surrounded by pistillate flowers, these only and usually few together in most axils, very small and globular at anthesis. |
|
Staminate flowers | in small, terminal, leaf-bracteate glomerules 1.5 mm wide. |
|
Pistillate flowers | solitary or in few-flowered clusters in almost all but distalmost leaves. |
|
Seeds | dimorphic: black, 1.5–1.7 mm, or brown, 2 mm. |
broadly elliptic; radical lateral, erect. |
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, obovoid-globular, fused, scarcely compressed, 8–12 mm, of loosely fibrous and spongy consistency, with thin membranous epidermis and thin, inner membrane, opening at summit closed by 2 erect, appressed, entire or 3-toothed valves, apex shortly apiculate, not flattened at top. |
2n | = 18. |
|
Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex holocarpa |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–early winter. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Saline waste places, along roads and sidewalks, in marshes, in various plant communities | Cultivated or weedy |
Elevation | 10-1000 m (0-3300 ft) | |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; DC; NM; NV; TX; UT; WA; Australia [Introduced in North America]
|
TX; WY; Australia [Introduced in North America] |
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.) |
I have seen no specimens of this species and therefore it is not mapped. H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923) in discussion of the related Atriplex lindleyi (as A. halimoides) noted that it has “been grown in American gardens with the thought of using them as forage plants, but…has [not] been found suitable for general planting. P. G. Wilson (1984) indicated that the species is relatively widespread in Australia, mainly in southern parts, where it grows “often on flood-plains or sandy flats.” (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 343. | FNA vol. 4, p. 342. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Semibaccata | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Spongiocarpus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. flagellaris | |
Name authority | R. Brown: Prodr., 406. (1810) | F. Mueller: Rep. Pl. Babbage’s Exped., 19. (1859) |
Web links |