Atriplex suberecta |
Atriplex graciliflora |
|
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peregrine saltbush, sprawling saltbush |
Blue Valley orach, slenderflower saltbush |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual or perennial, sprawling to ascending, 2–6 dm, branching from densely scaly base. | Herbs, branching from base, mainly 1–3 dm. |
Stems | often suffused with red-purple, terete, sparingly farinose when young. |
|
Leaves | mostly alternate, shortly petiolate; blade narrow to broadly rhomboid, lanceolate, oblanceolate, or elliptic, (8–)12–35(–42) × 6–16 mm, thin, margin coarsely and irregularly dentate, glabrescent adaxially, somewhat scurfy abaxially. |
mainly alternate, numerous; petiole 2–12(–16) mm; blade cordate-ovate to orbicular, subreniform, cordate, or deltoid, (5–)8–20(–25) mm and about as wide or wider, base truncate to cordate (or attenuate when young), apex rounded to obtuse or acute. |
Staminate flowers | in subterminal, axillary glomerules. |
in loose, deciduous, terminal panicles overtopping foliage, rachis and branches filiform, glomerules often beadlike in alternate position along rachis, perianth 5-lobed. |
Pistillate flowers | in axillary glomerules. |
axillary. |
Seeds | circular. |
white, 3 mm wide, dull. |
Fruiting | bracteoles sessile or on the stipe to 0.5 mm, rhombic to obovate, almost flat to convex, 2.2–4 × 1.7–2.7 mm, thin or somewhat thickened in age, connate in basal 1/2, margin entire in basal 1/2, 2–4-toothed in distal 1/2, apex acute, scurfy. |
bracteoles on stipes 2–6 mm, samaralike, suborbicular, oblong or cordate in outline, winged, compressed, 6–16 mm wide, margins 2–4 times as wide as body, wings undulate or entire, surfaces smooth. |
2n | = 18. |
|
Atriplex suberecta |
Atriplex graciliflora |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Disturbed places, with other ruderal weeds | Saltbush, mat-atriplex, seepweed, greasewood, rabbitbrush, and tamarix communities on saline, often salt encrusted and semibarren substrates derived from Mancos Shale, Tropic Shale, Entrada, and other fine-textured formations |
Elevation | 10-900 m (0-3000 ft) | 1100-2000 m (3600-6600 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; UT; Australia; naturalized South Africa [Introduced in North America]
|
CO; UT |
Discussion | Atriplex graciliflora is unique among our indigenous atriplices in having samaralike, entire fruiting bracteoles. When the bracteoles are considered along with the slender, terminal, staminate panicles of alternating beadlike glomerules, the species is unmatched. Its relationship is apparently with A. saccaria, which has undergone considerable morphologic radiation within the Four Corners region. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 343. | FNA vol. 4, p. 346. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Atriplex > sect. Semibaccata | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Graciliflorae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Obione graciliflora | |
Name authority | I. Verdoorn: Bothalia 6: 418, figs. 2, 3(2). (1954) | M. E. Jones: Proc. Cali f. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, 5: 717. (1895) |
Web links |