Atriplex truncata |
Atriplex matamorensis |
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truncate saltbrush, wedge orach, wedge orache, wedgeleaf orache, wedgescale, wedgescale orache, wedgescale saltbush |
matamoros saltbush |
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Habit | Herbs, typically erect. | Herbs, dioecious, from woody taproot, erect or ascending, branching at base, sparsely branched distally or simple, 1–4 dm, woody at base somewhat scurfy. |
Stems | simple or more commonly branched throughout, mainly 2–8(–10) dm, branches mostly obtusely angled; herbage scurfy, becoming glabrate. |
terete, slender, densely leafy, rather sparsely and closely scurfy. |
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. |
possibly Kranz type (difficult to determine), mostly opposite; blade oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 2–5 mm, subequal to internodes, broadest at middle, apex acute, densely grayish scurfy. |
Flowers | in axillary glomerules. |
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Staminate flowers | in glomerules mainly in distal axils; sepals 3–5. |
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Pistillate flowers | solitary or in small, axillary glomerules in stout leafy spikes. |
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Seeds | brown, 1–2 mm wide. |
yellowish, 1 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, suborbiculate, strongly compressed, 2–3 mm and broad, united to beyond middle, dentate to near base, triangular teeth acute, terminal 1 longest, faces 3-veined, scurfy. |
2n | = 18. |
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Atriplex truncata |
Atriplex matamorensis |
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Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | Flowering summer and fall. |
Habitat | Saline saltgrass-greasewood-rabbitbrush communities, and other pans or palustrine or lacustrine habitats | Saline soils, coastal areas, often along roadsides, other disturbed areas |
Elevation | 400-2700 m (1300-8900 ft) | 0-50 m (0-200 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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TX; Mexico |
Discussion | The quelite cenizo is a very distinctive, small, bushy perennial with numerous, ascending branches and tiny leaves. It is here tentatively placed adjacent to the other dioecious, herbaceous perennial, Atriplex watsonii, from which it differs in many ways (compare descriptions). Possibly its near relatives are in adjacent Mexico, which is beyond the consideration of the present paper; certainly it is one of the most distinctive of the herbaceous taxa. According to H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923), the relationships of this species lie with A. watsonii, but it is more closely similar to A. elegans in the strongly compressed, nearly orbicular, and evenly dentate bracteoles. However, both A. watsonii and A. matamorensis have opposite leaves and share the feature of the pericarp being dilated around the thickened stigma bases. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 354. | FNA vol. 4, p. 367. |
Parent taxa | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Truncatae | Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Californicae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Obione truncata, A. subdecumbens, A. truncata var. stricta | |
Name authority | (Torrey ex S. Watson) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 8: 398. (1873) | A. Nelson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 118. 1874, not Villars (1779) |
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