Grayia spinosa |
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hop sage, spiny hopsage |
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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 |
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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 |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY
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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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