Atriplex serenana |
Atriplex nudicaulis |
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bracteate orach, bractscale, saltscale, stinking orach |
Baltic saltbush, nude orach |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, erect or sprawling, usually branched often forming tangled mats to 10 × (3–)5–20 dm, ascending branches sparsely scurfy. | Herbs, monoecious, pale green, 0.5–3 dm, glabrous. | ||||
Stems | simple or branched, erect or ascending, terete or subangular. |
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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. |
alternate or the proximalmost opposite, blade green, oblong, lanceolate, or ovate, proximal leaves lanceolate to rhombic-ovate, 10–30 × 5–13 mm, base rounded or hastately to cuneately narrowed to petiole, margin nearly always entire (some hastate), apex acute or rounded, rarely obtuse, glabrous on both sides. |
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Flowers | in rather loose spiciform, axillary or terminal inflorescences. |
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Staminate flowers | in glomerules in terminal spikes or panicles 3–20 cm, or reduced to solitary, rounded, terminal glomerule. |
5-merous. |
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Pistillate flower(s) | in small clusters, axillary. |
enclosed by paired bracteoles. |
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Seeds | brown, 1–1.3(–1.5) mm. |
small, not or only moderately dimorphic: black, convex, 1.5–2 mm wide, lustrous, or light brown or olivaceous, compressed, 2.5–3 mm wide, duller, with subbasal, spreading radicle. |
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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 green, midvein never impressed, sessile or with stipes 0.5–1.5 mm, broadly ovate to rhombic-ovate, 3–5 mm, distinct nearly to base, base rounded or more often hastate-cuneate, margin entire or sparingly toothed, apex acute or acuminate, faces smooth. |
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2n | = 18. |
= 18. |
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Atriplex serenana |
Atriplex nudicaulis |
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Phenology | Flowering late summer–fall. | |||||
Habitat | Coastal sites | |||||
Elevation | 0 m (0 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
CA; NV; nw Mexico
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NF |
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
M. M. Iljin, (1936) definitely placed Atriplex praecox within the synonymy of A. nudicaulis. The following note is included in Flora Europaea (P. Aellen 1964b): “In the Baltic and arctic Russia many subspecies of, or species related to 19 [i.e., A. longipes Dreger] have been described. Most of these are sympatric and are probably more correctly treated as variants of this group.” Listed are both A. nudicaulis and A. praecox, followed by short descriptions. Both have stalked bracteoles circa 5–6 mm, with the former being 3-veined and with lateral reticulum, the latter being 1-veined. If they are the same, then nudicaulis is the earliest name. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 361. | FNA vol. 4, p. 339. | ||||
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Arenariae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Teutliopsis | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | A. longipes subsp. praecox, A. praecox | |||||
Name authority | A. Nelson ex Abrams: Fl. Los Angeles, 128. (1904) | Boguslaw: L sn. Zurn. 1: 30. (1846) | ||||
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