Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Atriplex wolfii

Atriplex powellii

slender orach, Wolf's saltweed

Powell's orach, Powell's orache, Powell's saltbush, Powell's saltweed
Habit Herbs, slender, delicate. Herbs, dioecious or sometimes sparingly monoecious.
Stems

simple or more commonly branched throughout, mainly 0.7–3.5 dm, branches terete;

herbage scurfy.

slender to stout, mainly 1–5(–7) dm, branching almost throughout;

herbage pubescent with scurfy and arachnoid hairs.
Leaves

blade concolorous, linear to narrowly lanceolate, mainly 4–25 × 1–3 mm.

alternate, proximalmost on petioles (3–)5–30 mm, becoming subsessile or short petiolate distally;

blade 3-veined, ovate to rhombic or orbiculate to elliptic, 0.4–5 × 0.2–3 cm, base rounded to cuneate, margin entire, apex acute to obtuse.
Flowers

very small, both sexes in the same sessile, axillary clusters.

Staminate flowers

sepals 5.

with calyx 4–5-lobed.
Seeds

brown, 1–2 mm.

greenish, yellowish, or brown, 0.9–2 mm;

radicle superior.
Fruiting

bracteoles sessile, ovate to cuneate in outline, 1.5–2.7 × 1.1–2.1 mm, apex truncate to attenuate, faces smooth or tuberculate.

bracteoles sessile, ovate to oblong or broadly cuneate or pan-duriform, 1.5–5.5 × 1.5–5 mm, thick, united to apex, apex truncate to cuspidate or tridentate, surfaces with thickened processes or rarely smooth.
2n

= 18.

Atriplex wolfii

Atriplex powellii
Distribution
from FNA
CO; UT; WY
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CO; ID; MT; NE; NM; OR; SD; UT; WY; AB; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Fruiting bracteoles with lateral distalmost lobes much larger and broader than median one; sc Colorado
var. wolfii
1. Fruiting bracteoles with distalmost lobe typically but not always larger and broader than any lateral lobes, comprising much of bract length; nw Colorado, sw Wyoming, and c to ne Utah.
var. tenuissima
1. Leaves mostly conspicuously 3-veined, proximalmost with petioles 0.5-2.5(-3.5) cm, distalmost bracteate leaves typically short petiolate; fruiting bracteoles easily discerned at bract bases; plants mostly dioecious; from Alberta and Saskatchewan s to Utah and New Mexico
var. powellii
1. Leaves inconspicuously, if at all, 3-veined, proximalmost with petioles 0.5-1.5(-2) cm, distalmost bracteate leaves typically sessile; fruiting bracteoles apparent only by removing the subtending bract; plants evidently monoecious; local distribution in se Utah.
var. minuticarpa
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 355. FNA vol. 4, p. 352.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Wolfianae Chenopodiaceae > Atriplex > subg. Obione > sect. Obione > subsect. Argenteae
Sibling taxa
A. acanthocarpa, A. amnicola, A. argentea, A. californica, A. canescens, A. confertifolia, A. cordulata, A. coronata, A. corrugata, A. coulteri, A. covillei, A. dioica, A. elegans, A. fruticulosa, A. gardneri, A. garrettii, A. glabriuscula, A. gmelinii, A. graciliflora, A. heterosperma, A. holocarpa, A. hortensis, A. hymenelytra, A. joaquiniana, A. klebergorum, A. laciniata, A. lentiformis, A. leucophylla, A. lindleyi, A. linearis, A. littoralis, A. matamorensis, A. mucronata, A. nudicaulis, A. nummularia, A. oblongifolia, A. obovata, A. pacifica, A. parishii, A. parryi, A. patula, A. pentandra, A. phyllostegia, A. pleiantha, A. polycarpa, A. powellii, A. prostrata, A. pusilla, A. rosea, A. saccaria, A. semibaccata, A. serenana, A. spinifera, A. suberecta, A. suckleyi, A. tatarica, A. torreyi, A. truncata, A. tularensis, A. watsonii, A. wrightii
A. acanthocarpa, A. amnicola, A. argentea, A. californica, A. canescens, A. confertifolia, A. cordulata, A. coronata, A. corrugata, A. coulteri, A. covillei, A. dioica, A. elegans, A. fruticulosa, A. gardneri, A. garrettii, A. glabriuscula, A. gmelinii, A. graciliflora, A. heterosperma, A. holocarpa, A. hortensis, A. hymenelytra, A. joaquiniana, A. klebergorum, A. laciniata, A. lentiformis, A. leucophylla, A. lindleyi, A. linearis, A. littoralis, A. matamorensis, A. mucronata, A. nudicaulis, A. nummularia, A. oblongifolia, A. obovata, A. pacifica, A. parishii, A. parryi, A. patula, A. pentandra, A. phyllostegia, A. pleiantha, A. polycarpa, A. prostrata, A. pusilla, A. rosea, A. saccaria, A. semibaccata, A. serenana, A. spinifera, A. suberecta, A. suckleyi, A. tatarica, A. torreyi, A. truncata, A. tularensis, A. watsonii, A. wolfii, A. wrightii
Subordinate taxa
A. wolfii var. tenuissima, A. wolfii var. wolfii
A. powellii var. minuticarpa, A. powellii var. powellii
Synonyms Obione wolfii Obione powellii
Name authority S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 112. (1874) S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 114. (1874)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers