Atriplex serenana
Atriplex tularensis
bracteate orach, bractscale, saltscale, stinking orach
Bakersfield smallscale, Tulare orach, Tulare saltbush
aging red, terete or obscurely angled, brittle.
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 proximalmost opposite;
blade lanceolate to ovate, 6–20 × 4–8 mm, base rounded, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate, gray scurfy.
in glomerules in terminal spikes or panicles 3–20 cm, or reduced to solitary, rounded, terminal glomerule.
in small axillary dense glomerules, 4-merous.
in small clusters, axillary.
solitary or in small axillary clusters, below or mixed with staminate.
brown, 1–1.3(–1.5) mm.
dark brown, 1–1.2 mm.
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, rhombic-ovate, acute or acuminate, 2.5–3.5 × 2.2–3 mm, united to middle, thin margin toothed, faces plane, scurfy.
= 18.
Atriplex serenana
Atriplex tularensis
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Of conservation concern.
H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923) discussed the relationship of this plant to Atriplex cordulata, noting that, “A. tularensis is a much more slender plant, the leaves are narrower in proportion to their length,” and tapering to the base, never at all cordate. They noted further, that “The fruiting bracts are sometimes very similar in shape, but those of tularensis typically end in an abrupt acute tooth not present in cordulata and both bract and seed are always smaller.” Because of its small fruiting bracteoles it was placed within the Pusillae by P. C. Standley (1916). The erect stature, coupled with distinctive spreading-ascending and stiff (at least in dried material) leaves, and foliose bracts apparently distinguish A. tularensis from A. coronata.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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 |
CA
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USDA Plants Database
