Atriplex holocarpa

Herbs, annual or short-lived perennial, 1.5–3 dm, with a hard subligneous base. Stems branching, diffuse or procumbent, softly scurfy-tomentose. Leaves alternate; petiole to 1/2 as long as blade; blade obovate or rhombic to deltoid, 10–30 mm, base obtuse, margin sinuate to serrate, apex irregularly toothed, acute. Flowers in axillary glomerules, staminate in distal axils surrounded by pistillate flowers, these only and usually few together in most axils, very small and globular at anthesis. Fruiting bracteoles sessile, obovoid-globular, fused, scarcely compressed, 8–12 mm, of loosely fibrous and spongy consistency, with thin membranous epidermis and thin, inner membrane, opening at summit closed by 2 erect, appressed, entire or 3-toothed valves, apex shortly apiculate, not flattened at top. Seeds broadly elliptic; radical lateral, erect.

Phenology: Flowering summer.
Habitat: Cultivated or weedy

Introduced; Tex., Wyo., Australia.

Discussion

I have seen no specimens of this species and therefore it is not mapped. H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923) in discussion of the related Atriplex lindleyi (as A. halimoides) noted that it has “been grown in American gardens with the thought of using them as forage plants, but…has [not] been found suitable for general planting. P. G. Wilson (1984) indicated that the species is relatively widespread in Australia, mainly in southern parts, where it grows “often on flood-plains or sandy flats.”

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa