Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex joaquiniana |
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Australian saltbush, berry saltbush, creeping saltbush |
San Joaquin 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, monoecious or subdioecious, erect, sparsely branched, (1–)3–10 dm; branches obtusely angled, rather rigidly ascending, finely farinose when young. |
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. |
mostly alternate; petiole 0.5–2.5 cm, becoming shorter or subsessile in distal ones; blade deltoid to rhombic-ovate or lanceolate, (10–)15–50(–70) × 8–40 mm, base rounded, truncate, or broadly cuneate, margin irregularly sinuate-dentate or repand-dentate to entire, sometimes subhastate, apex obtuse to acute; distal blades often narrower and sometimes entire except for basal lobes. |
Flowers | in dense or interrupted, naked, simple or paniculate spikes mainly 5–8 mm thick, staminate ones 4-merous. |
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Staminate flowers | in small, terminal, leaf-bracteate glomerules 1.5 mm wide. |
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Pistillate flowers | solitary or in few-flowered clusters in almost all but distalmost leaves. |
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Seeds | dimorphic: black, 1.5–1.7 mm, or brown, 2 mm. |
dark brown or black, 0.8–1.5 mm; radicle inferior. |
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 densely packed on rachis, sessile, ovate-oblong or rounded-deltoid, (2–)2.5–3(–4.5) mm, united only at rounded or truncate base, angled and cristate on faces, thin or spongy-thickened. |
2n | = 18. |
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Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex joaquiniana |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–early winter. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Saline waste places, along roads and sidewalks, in marshes, in various plant communities | Alkali sink scrub or alkaline grasslands |
Elevation | 10-1000 m (0-3300 ft) | 0-200(-300) m (0-700(-1000) ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; DC; NM; NV; TX; UT; WA; Australia [Introduced in North America]
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CA |
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.) |
Atriplex joaquiniana commonly occurs with Distichlis spicata, Allenrolfea occidentalis, Suaeda moquinii, Frankenia salina, Hordeum depressum, Spergularia macrotheca, and various annual species. H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923) placed the relationship of this very distinctive California endemic with the Atriplex patula complex, with which one can make out a distant affinity. It differs from all other members previously treated within that complex in the small, more or less quadrangular fruiting bracteoles, which are typically crested on one or both elevated faces and have entire or less commonly dentate margins. The bracteoles are borne in very compact simple or paniculate spikes. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 343. | FNA vol. 4, p. 335. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Semibaccata | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Teutliopsis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. flagellaris | A. spicata, A. patula subsp. spicata, A. spicata var. lagunita |
Name authority | R. Brown: Prodr., 406. (1810) | A. Nelson: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 17: 99. (1904) |
Web links |