Atriplex truncata |
Atriplex corrugata |
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truncate saltbrush, wedge orach, wedge orache, wedgeleaf orache, wedgescale, wedgescale orache, wedgescale saltbush |
mat-atriplex, mat-saltbush, matscale |
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Habit | Herbs, typically erect. | Shrubs dioecious (rarely monoecious), low spreading (often appearing as if prostrate), mainly 0.3–1.5 × 3–15 dm. |
Stems | simple or more commonly branched throughout, mainly 2–8(–10) dm, branches mostly obtusely angled; herbage scurfy, becoming glabrate. |
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Leaves | alternate or proximalmost opposite, short petiolate proximally, sessile and often cordate-clasping distally; blade ovate to deltoid or oval, 4–30(–40) × 3–30 mm, base truncate or subhastate to rounded, margin entire or dentate, apex acute to obtuse. |
persistent, sessile, opposite proximally, alternate distally; blade linear to linear-oblanceolate, or oblong, 3–18 × 2–6 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse. |
Flowers | in axillary glomerules. |
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Staminate flowers | in glomerules mainly in distal axils; sepals 3–5. |
yellow to brownish, in clusters 3–6 mm wide, borne in spikes 1–8 cm. |
Pistillate flowers | in leafy bracteate spikes 5–15 cm. |
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Seeds | brown, 1–2 mm wide. |
brown, 1.5 mm wide. |
Fruiting | bracteoles scarcely compressed, 2–3 mm and as wide, apex truncate to broadly rounded, with 3 (or more) teeth across summit, surfaces smooth (or rarely tuberculate). |
bracteoles sessile or subsessile, panduriform, 3–5 × 4–6 mm, united to beyond middle, margin entire or undulate, apex rounded to acute, densely tuberculate (or smooth). |
2n | = 18. |
= 36. |
Atriplex truncata |
Atriplex corrugata |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | Flowering spring–fall. |
Habitat | Saline saltgrass-greasewood-rabbitbrush communities, and other pans or palustrine or lacustrine habitats | Saline, usually fine-textured substrates derived from Mancos Shale, Tropic Shale, Morrison, Duchesne River, and other similar formations in mat-atriplex and Castle Valley saltbush communities |
Elevation | 400-2700 m (1300-8900 ft) | 1200-2200 m (3900-7200 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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CO; NM; UT
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Discussion | Mat-saltbush is known to form intermediates with both Atriplex confertifolia and A. gardneri var. cuneata. This saltbush is a valuable browse plant on the sparsely vegetated clays and silts of eastern Utah, especially on the Mancos Shale exposures, where it is often the only woody vegetation present. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 354. | FNA vol. 4. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Truncatae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Pterochiton |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Obione truncata, A. subdecumbens, A. truncata var. stricta | A. nuttallii var. corrugata |
Name authority | (Torrey ex S. Watson) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 8: 398. (1873) | S. Watson: Bot. Gaz. 16: 345. (1891) |
Web links |
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