Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex truncata |
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Australian saltbush, berry saltbush, creeping saltbush |
truncate saltbrush, wedge orach, wedge orache, wedgeleaf orache, wedgescale, wedgescale orache, wedgescale 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. | Herbs, typically erect. |
Stems | simple or more commonly branched throughout, mainly 2–8(–10) dm, branches mostly obtusely angled; herbage scurfy, becoming glabrate. |
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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. |
alternate or proximalmost opposite, short petiolate proximally, sessile and often cordate-clasping distally; blade ovate to deltoid or oval, 4–30(–40) × 3–30 mm, base truncate or subhastate to rounded, margin entire or dentate, apex acute to obtuse. |
Flowers | in axillary glomerules. |
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Staminate flowers | in small, terminal, leaf-bracteate glomerules 1.5 mm wide. |
in glomerules mainly in distal axils; sepals 3–5. |
Pistillate flowers | solitary or in few-flowered clusters in almost all but distalmost leaves. |
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Seeds | dimorphic: black, 1.5–1.7 mm, or brown, 2 mm. |
brown, 1–2 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 scarcely compressed, 2–3 mm and as wide, apex truncate to broadly rounded, with 3 (or more) teeth across summit, surfaces smooth (or rarely tuberculate). |
2n | = 18. |
= 18. |
Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex truncata |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–early winter. | Flowering summer–fall. |
Habitat | Saline waste places, along roads and sidewalks, in marshes, in various plant communities | Saline saltgrass-greasewood-rabbitbrush communities, and other pans or palustrine or lacustrine habitats |
Elevation | 10-1000 m (0-3300 ft) | 400-2700 m (1300-8900 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; DC; NM; NV; TX; UT; WA; Australia [Introduced in North America]
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CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 343. | FNA vol. 4, p. 354. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Semibaccata | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Truncatae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. flagellaris | Obione truncata, A. subdecumbens, A. truncata var. stricta |
Name authority | R. Brown: Prodr., 406. (1810) | (Torrey ex S. Watson) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 8: 398. (1873) |
Web links |
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