Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex wolfii |
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Australian saltbush, berry saltbush, creeping saltbush |
slender orach, Wolf's saltweed |
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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, slender, delicate. | ||||
Stems | simple or more commonly branched throughout, mainly 0.7–3.5 dm, branches terete; herbage scurfy. |
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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. |
blade concolorous, linear to narrowly lanceolate, mainly 4–25 × 1–3 mm. |
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Flowers | very small, both sexes in the same sessile, axillary clusters. |
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Staminate flowers | in small, terminal, leaf-bracteate glomerules 1.5 mm wide. |
sepals 5. |
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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. |
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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, ovate to cuneate in outline, 1.5–2.7 × 1.1–2.1 mm, apex truncate to attenuate, faces smooth or tuberculate. |
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2n | = 18. |
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Atriplex semibaccata |
Atriplex wolfii |
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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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CO; UT; WY |
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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. 355. | ||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Semibaccata | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Wolfianae | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | A. flagellaris | Obione wolfii | ||||
Name authority | R. Brown: Prodr., 406. (1810) | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 112. (1874) | ||||
Web links |