Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Atriplex semibaccata

Atriplex pacifica

Australian saltbush, berry saltbush, creeping saltbush

Davidson's saltbush, Pacific orach, south coast saltbush, south coast saltscale
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, prostrate, sometimes tinged red, 1–6 dm, forming tangled masses 3–10 dm diam., lightly scurfy 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.

numerous, sessile or proximal short petiolate;

blade greenish adaxially, paler abaxially, oblanceolate to spatulate-elliptic or oval, (3–)5–18 × 1–8 mm, margin entire, more scurfy abaxially.
Staminate flowers

in small, terminal, leaf-bracteate glomerules 1.5 mm wide.

in glomerules largely in distal bractless axils, thus short spicate;

calyx 5-cleft.
Pistillate flowers

solitary or in few-flowered clusters in almost all but distalmost leaves.

in proximal axils.
Seeds

dimorphic: black, 1.5–1.7 mm, or brown, 2 mm.

light brown, 0.8–1 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 subsessile or stipe to 0.3 mm, suborbiculate to obovate, 1–1.5(–2) × 1.1–1.8 mm, united to middle, margin minutely 3–5-toothed at apex, otherwise entire, apex green, faces smooth or rarely tuberculate.
2n

= 18.

Atriplex semibaccata

Atriplex pacifica
Phenology Flowering spring–early winter. Flowering early spring–fall.
Habitat Saline waste places, along roads and sidewalks, in marshes, in various plant communities Mainly on sea bluffs
Elevation 10-1000 m (0-3300 ft) 0-100 m (0-300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; DC; NM; NV; TX; UT; WA; Australia [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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 name Atriplex ramosissima was published by Moquin-Tandon as a synonym, based on a name on a specimen in Nuttall’s herbarium.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 343. FNA vol. 4, p. 363.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Semibaccata Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Arenariae
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. saccaria, 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. 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. 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
Synonyms A. flagellaris Obione microcarpa, A. ramosissima
Name authority R. Brown: Prodr., 406. (1810) A. Nelson: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 17: 99. (1904)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers