Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex spinifera |
|
---|---|---|
Australian saltbush, berry saltbush, creeping saltbush |
spinescale saltbush, spiny 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. | Shrubs, dioecious, erect, intricately much branched, mainly 3–15 dm; branchlets terete, becoming rigid and spinose. |
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. |
short petiolate to sessile; blade ovate-deltate to elliptic or spatulate, (5–)10–27 mm, entire or subhastate. |
Staminate flowers | in small, terminal, leaf-bracteate glomerules 1.5 mm wide. |
borne in small axillary glomerules. |
Pistillate flowers | solitary or in few-flowered clusters in almost all but distalmost leaves. |
borne solitary or few in bract axils on short, spinose, lateral branchlets of a paniculate inflorescence. |
Seeds | dimorphic: black, 1.5–1.7 mm, or brown, 2 mm. |
reddish brown, 2–2.8 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 sessile or nearly so, body globose, connate, constricted below oblong to orbicular wings, 7–15 ×3.5–10 mm, entire or obscurely dentate, faces smooth to sparingly cristate. |
2n | = 18. |
|
Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex spinifera |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–early winter. | Flowering summer–fall. |
Habitat | Saline waste places, along roads and sidewalks, in marshes, in various plant communities | Xeric saline substrates, with mixed salt desert shrubs |
Elevation | 10-1000 m (0-3300 ft) | 30-1300 m (100-4300 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; DC; NM; NV; TX; UT; WA; Australia [Introduced in North America]
|
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.) |
Spiny saltbush apparently forms occasional hybrids with phases of Atriplex canescens, as indicated by the presence of wings on some of the fruiting bracteoles. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 343. | FNA vol. 4, p. 377. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Semibaccata | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. flagellaris | |
Name authority | R. Brown: Prodr., 406. (1810) | J. F. Macbride: Contr. Gray Herb. 53: 11. (1918) |
Web links |