Flora of North America species comparison

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Atriplex matamorensis

bracteate orach, bractscale, saltscale, stinking orach

matamoros saltbush

Habit

Herbs, annual, erect or sprawling, usually branched often forming tangled mats to 10 × (3–)5–20 dm, ascending branches sparsely scurfy.

Herbs, dioecious, from woody taproot, erect or ascending, branching at base, sparsely branched distally or simple, 1–4 dm, woody at base somewhat scurfy.

Stems

terete, slender, densely leafy, rather sparsely and closely scurfy.

Leaves

many, subsessile or very short petiolate;

blade subconcolorous, lanceolate to oblong, elliptic, or oval, (8–)10–30(–40) × 3–12(–15) mm, margin sharply dentate to entire.

possibly Kranz type (difficult to determine), mostly opposite;

blade oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 2–5 mm, subequal to internodes, broadest at middle, apex acute, densely grayish scurfy.

Staminate flowers

in glomerules in terminal spikes or panicles 3–20 cm, or reduced to solitary, rounded, terminal glomerule.

Pistillate flower(s)

in small clusters, axillary.

solitary or in small, axillary glomerules in stout leafy spikes.

Seeds

brown, 1–1.3(–1.5) mm.

yellowish, 1 mm wide.

Fruiting

bracteoles sessile or subsessile (stipe to 1 mm), cuneate-orbicular to obovate, somewhat compressed, 2.1–3.5 × (1.7–)2–3.7 mm, united 1/2 of length, margin sharply and often slenderly toothed beyond middle, faces often rather strongly veined, smooth or with 1 or more slender or flattened appendages.

bracteoles sessile, suborbiculate, strongly compressed, 2–3 mm and broad, united to beyond middle, dentate to near base, triangular teeth acute, terminal 1 longest, faces 3-veined, scurfy.

= 18.

Atriplex serenana

Atriplex matamorensis

Phenology

Flowering summer and fall.

Habitat

Saline soils, coastal areas, often along roadsides, other disturbed areas

Elevation

0-50 m (0-200 ft)

Distribution

CA; NV; nw Mexico

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

TX; Mexico

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

The quelite cenizo is a very distinctive, small, bushy perennial with numerous, ascending branches and tiny leaves. It is here tentatively placed adjacent to the other dioecious, herbaceous perennial, Atriplex watsonii, from which it differs in many ways (compare descriptions). Possibly its near relatives are in adjacent Mexico, which is beyond the consideration of the present paper; certainly it is one of the most distinctive of the herbaceous taxa. According to H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923), the relationships of this species lie with A. watsonii, but it is more closely similar to A. elegans in the strongly compressed, nearly orbicular, and evenly dentate bracteoles. However, both A. watsonii and A. matamorensis have opposite leaves and share the feature of the pericarp being dilated around the thickened stigma bases.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key

1. Staminate inflorescence an elongate panicle or spike bearing numerous, beadlike glomerules; fruiting bracteoles ± 1-veined; mainly of central valley and Owens Valley, to w Nevada, also coastal and insu- lar, s California	var. serenana
1. Staminate inflorescence of solitary, terminal, subglobose glomerule; fruiting bracteoles 3-veined; coastal s California	var. davidsonii

Source

FNA vol. 4, p. 361.

FNA vol. 4, p. 367.

Parent taxa

Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Arenariae

Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Californicae

Sibling taxa

A. acanthocarpa, A. amnicola, A. argentea, A. californica, A. canescens, A. confertifolia, A. cordulata, A. coronata, A. corrugata, A. coulteri, A. covillei, A. dioica, A. elegans, A. fruticulosa, A. gardneri, A. garrettii, A. glabriuscula, A. gmelinii, A. graciliflora, A. heterosperma, A. holocarpa, A. hortensis, A. hymenelytra, A. joaquiniana, A. klebergorum, A. laciniata, A. lentiformis, A. leucophylla, A. lindleyi, A. linearis, A. littoralis, A. matamorensis, A. mucronata, A. nudicaulis, A. nummularia, A. oblongifolia, A. obovata, A. pacifica, A. parishii, A. parryi, A. patula, A. pentandra, A. phyllostegia, A. pleiantha, A. polycarpa, A. powellii, A. prostrata, A. pusilla, A. rosea, A. saccaria, A. semibaccata, A. spinifera, A. suberecta, A. suckleyi, A. tatarica, A. torreyi, A. truncata, A. tularensis, A. watsonii, A. wolfii, A. wrightii

A. acanthocarpa, A. amnicola, A. argentea, A. californica, A. canescens, A. confertifolia, A. cordulata, A. coronata, A. corrugata, A. coulteri, A. covillei, A. dioica, A. elegans, A. fruticulosa, A. gardneri, A. garrettii, A. glabriuscula, A. gmelinii, A. graciliflora, A. heterosperma, A. holocarpa, A. hortensis, A. hymenelytra, A. joaquiniana, A. klebergorum, A. laciniata, A. lentiformis, A. leucophylla, A. lindleyi, A. linearis, A. littoralis, A. mucronata, A. nudicaulis, A. nummularia, A. oblongifolia, A. obovata, A. pacifica, A. parishii, A. parryi, A. patula, A. pentandra, A. phyllostegia, A. pleiantha, A. polycarpa, A. powellii, A. prostrata, A. pusilla, A. rosea, A. saccaria, A. semibaccata, A. serenana, A. spinifera, A. suberecta, A. suckleyi, A. tatarica, A. torreyi, A. truncata, A. tularensis, A. watsonii, A. wolfii, A. wrightii

Subordinate taxa

A. serenana var. davidsonii, A. serenana var. serenana

Name authority

A. Nelson ex Abrams: Fl. Los Angeles, 128. (1904)

A. Nelson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 118. 1874, not Villars (1779)

Web links

Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).

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