Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex matamorensis |
|
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Australian saltbush, berry saltbush, creeping saltbush |
matamoros 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, dioecious, from woody taproot, erect or ascending, branching at base, sparsely branched distally or simple, 1–4 dm, woody at base somewhat scurfy. |
Stems | terete, slender, densely leafy, rather sparsely and closely scurfy. |
|
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. |
possibly Kranz type (difficult to determine), mostly opposite; blade oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 2–5 mm, subequal to internodes, broadest at middle, apex acute, densely grayish scurfy. |
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. |
solitary or in small, axillary glomerules in stout leafy spikes. |
Seeds | dimorphic: black, 1.5–1.7 mm, or brown, 2 mm. |
yellowish, 1 mm wide. |
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, suborbiculate, strongly compressed, 2–3 mm and broad, united to beyond middle, dentate to near base, triangular teeth acute, terminal 1 longest, faces 3-veined, scurfy. |
2n | = 18. |
|
Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex matamorensis |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–early winter. | Flowering summer and fall. |
Habitat | Saline waste places, along roads and sidewalks, in marshes, in various plant communities | Saline soils, coastal areas, often along roadsides, other disturbed areas |
Elevation | 10-1000 m (0-3300 ft) | 0-50 m (0-200 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; DC; NM; NV; TX; UT; WA; Australia [Introduced in North America]
|
TX; Mexico |
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.) |
The quelite cenizo is a very distinctive, small, bushy perennial with numerous, ascending branches and tiny leaves. It is here tentatively placed adjacent to the other dioecious, herbaceous perennial, Atriplex watsonii, from which it differs in many ways (compare descriptions). Possibly its near relatives are in adjacent Mexico, which is beyond the consideration of the present paper; certainly it is one of the most distinctive of the herbaceous taxa. According to H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923), the relationships of this species lie with A. watsonii, but it is more closely similar to A. elegans in the strongly compressed, nearly orbicular, and evenly dentate bracteoles. However, both A. watsonii and A. matamorensis have opposite leaves and share the feature of the pericarp being dilated around the thickened stigma bases. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 343. | FNA vol. 4, p. 367. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Semibaccata | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Californicae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. flagellaris | |
Name authority | R. Brown: Prodr., 406. (1810) | A. Nelson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 118. 1874, not Villars (1779) |
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