Atriplex suberecta
Atriplex prostrata
peregrine saltbush, sprawling saltbush
fat-hen, hastate orache, hastate-leaf orache, spearscale orache, thin-leaf orache, thinleaf orach, triangle orache
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.
opposite or subopposite at least proximally;
petiole (0–)1–3(–4) cm;
blade triangular-hastate, lobes spreading, 20–100 mm and almost as wide, base truncate or subcordate, margin entire, serrate, dentate, or irregularly toothed, apex acute to obtuse.
in spiciform naked spikes 2–9 cm, sometimes forming terminal panicles;
glomerules tight, contiguous or irregularly spaced.
in subterminal, axillary glomerules.
in axillary glomerules.
circular.
dimorphic: brown, flattened, disc-shaped, 1–2.5 mm wide, or black, 1–1.5 mm wide;
radicle subbasal, obliquely antrorse to spreading.
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 green, becoming brown to black at maturity, triangular-hastate to triangular-ovate, veined or veins obscure, 3–5 mm, thin to thickened, spongy, base truncate to obtuse, margin united at base, lateral angles mostly entire, apex acute, faces smooth or with 2 tubercles.
= 18.
= 18.
Atriplex suberecta
Atriplex prostrata
Atriplex prostrata often grows with willow, tamarix, Scirpus (Schoenoplectus and Bulboschoenus segregates), Juncus, Distichlis, and Typha. Perhaps the phase along coastal eastern North America is indigenous, but this and the related Atriplex heterosperma evidently moved quickly from one palustrine habitat to another following subsequent introductions from the Old World. They were probably initially introduced as ballast waifs, and subsequently dispersed by waterfowl. The two species are now commonplace in lands within and adjacent to marshes in much of North America west of the initial sites of introduction.
The name for the species taken up here follows the nomenclatural interpretation of J. McNeill et al. (1983).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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