Atriplex coronata

S. Watson

Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 114. 1874.

Common names: Wedgescale crownscale
Endemic
Synonyms: Atriplex elegans var. coronata (S. Watson) M. E. Jones Obione coronata (S. Watson) Ulbrich
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Mentioned on page 359.

Herbs, erect or decumbent, 0.5–6 dm; branches terete, fructiferous almost to base, scurfy when young. Leaves alternate, subsessile or proximal short petiolate; blade ascending, oblong, oblong-ovate, or lanceolate to elliptic, 5–40 × 2–10 mm, thin, base acute to obtuse, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate. Flowers of both sexes in small axillary glomerules, 5-merous. Fruiting bracteoles almost sessile, broadly cuneate, 2–5 × (2–)2.5–5 mm, united to summit, truncate at summit, sides smooth or obscurely tuberculate. Seeds light brown to amber, 1–1.5 mm. 2n = 36.

Discussion

Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).

Although placed within the Atriplex argentea species complex by P. C. Standley (1916), this taxon appears more nearly allied to A. cordulata, differing mainly in leaf shape, round-ovate or deltoid-ovate to elliptic or lanceolate (not ovate to cordate-ovate), and markedly tuberculate faces of the fruiting bracteoles.

Selected References

None.

Key

1 Stems ± erect; body of fruiting bracteoles ± semicircular in profile, compressed or ± spheric; tubercles dense; marginal teeth ± equal. Atriplex coronata var. notatior
1 Stems decumbent to ascending; body of fruiting bracteoles approaching circular or flabellate in profile, ± compressed; tubercles usually few; marginal teeth unequal > 2
2 Fruiting bracteoles 2-4 mm; basal branches and leaves typically opposite. Atriplex coronata var. vallicola
2 Fruiting bracteoles (2-)4-5 mm; basal branches and leaves typically alternate Atriplex coronata var. coronata