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hop sage, spiny hopsage

Habit Plants dioecious (rarely monoecious).
Stems

3–10(–15) dm, becoming reddish brown with whitish ribs exfoliating in strips, older bark dark gray.

Leaves

of main stems 1–2.5(–4.2) cm × 1.5–6(–10) mm;

blade green, apex often whitish.

Staminate flowers

perianth segments ± enclosing stamens, 1.5–2 mm;

filaments shorter than anthers.

Pistillate flowers

stigma protruding through opening in covering formed by accrescent bracts.

Fruiting

bracts wholly connate, sessile, orbicular to broadly elliptic, 7.5–14 × 6–12 mm, base often abruptly cuneate and stipelike, margins entire, apex retuse, glabrous;

wing somewhat thickened near margin, yellowish green, whitish, or pink to red-tinged, smooth, glabrous.

Utricles

brown, 1.5–2 mm.

2n

= 36.

Grayia spinosa

Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Valleys, foothills, dry, alkaline or scarcely alkaline soils, sagebrush, shadscale, and creosote bush communities
Elevation 500-2400 m (1600-7900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Grayia spinosa is rarely a codominant. Its fruits are still present through July.

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

Source FNA vol. 4, p. 307.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae > Grayia
Synonyms Chenopodium spinosum, Atriplex grayi
Name authority (Hooker) Moquin-Tandon: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle., Prodr. 13(2): 119. (1849)
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