Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex torreyi |
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Australian saltbush, berry saltbush, creeping saltbush |
Torrey saltbush, Torrey's quailbush, Torrey's saltbush |
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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. | Shrubs, dioecious, forming broad clumps, mostly (8–)1.2–20(–30) dm; branchlets striately and often sharply angled, glabrous or sparingly puberulent, often becoming bluntly spiny. | ||||
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. |
persistent, alternate; petiole 1–4 mm; blade grayish or greenish, ovate to deltate, rhombic, oval, or lanceolate, typically subhastate, (5–)12–32 × 4–16(–20) mm, base truncate to obtuse, margin entire (rarely toothed), apex obtuse and apiculate. |
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Staminate flowers | in small, terminal, leaf-bracteate glomerules 1.5 mm wide. |
yellow, in clusters 1 mm wide, borne in panicles mainly 10–30 cm. |
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Pistillate flowers | solitary or in few-flowered clusters in almost all but distalmost leaves. |
in once-branched panicles. |
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Seeds | dimorphic: black, 1.5–1.7 mm, or brown, 2 mm. |
brown, 1–1.9 mm wide. |
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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, orbiculate, greatly compressed, 1.3–4 mm, about as wide, margin crenate, apex rounded. |
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2n | = 18. |
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Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex torreyi |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–early winter. | |||||
Habitat | Saline waste places, along roads and sidewalks, in marshes, in various plant communities | |||||
Elevation | 10-1000 m (0-3300 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; DC; NM; NV; TX; UT; WA; Australia [Introduced in North America]
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AZ; CA; NV; UT
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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.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 343. | FNA vol. 4, p. 378. | ||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Semibaccata | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | A. flagellaris | Obione torreyi, A. lentiformis subsp. torreyi, A. lentiformis var. torreyi | ||||
Name authority | R. Brown: Prodr., 406. (1810) | (S. Watson) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 119. (1874) | ||||
Web links |