Atriplex semibaccata
Atriplex prostrata
Australian saltbush, berry saltbush, creeping saltbush
fat-hen, hastate orache, hastate-leaf orache, spearscale orache, thin-leaf orache, thinleaf orach, triangle orache
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.
opposite or subopposite at least proximally;
petiole (0–)1–3(–4) cm;
blade triangular-hastate, lobes spreading, 20–100 mm and almost as wide, base truncate or subcordate, margin entire, serrate, dentate, or irregularly toothed, apex acute to obtuse.
in spiciform naked spikes 2–9 cm, sometimes forming terminal panicles;
glomerules tight, contiguous or irregularly spaced.
in small, terminal, leaf-bracteate glomerules 1.5 mm wide.
solitary or in few-flowered clusters in almost all but distalmost leaves.
dimorphic: black, 1.5–1.7 mm, or brown, 2 mm.
dimorphic: brown, flattened, disc-shaped, 1–2.5 mm wide, or black, 1–1.5 mm wide;
radicle subbasal, obliquely antrorse to spreading.
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 green, becoming brown to black at maturity, triangular-hastate to triangular-ovate, veined or veins obscure, 3–5 mm, thin to thickened, spongy, base truncate to obtuse, margin united at base, lateral angles mostly entire, apex acute, faces smooth or with 2 tubercles.
= 18.
= 18.
Atriplex semibaccata
Atriplex prostrata
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 prostrata often grows with willow, tamarix, Scirpus (Schoenoplectus and Bulboschoenus segregates), Juncus, Distichlis, and Typha. Perhaps the phase along coastal eastern North America is indigenous, but this and the related Atriplex heterosperma evidently moved quickly from one palustrine habitat to another following subsequent introductions from the Old World. They were probably initially introduced as ballast waifs, and subsequently dispersed by waterfowl. The two species are now commonplace in lands within and adjacent to marshes in much of North America west of the initial sites of introduction.
The name for the species taken up here follows the nomenclatural interpretation of J. McNeill et al. (1983).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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