saltbushes

genus Atriplex

Member of saltbush subfamily (subfamily Chenopodioideae)
amaranth family (family Amaranthaceae)
dicots (class Magnoliopsida)
flowering plants (subphylum Angiospermae)

Except for old historical records and extremely rare examples that I don't expect to encounter, there are no other wild species of this genus in the bay area.

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There are quite a few species which I’ve neglected here because they don’t seem to be in or near park areas where I hike. But they may still be found in other places around the bay area.

cattle saltbush
Atriplex polycarpa

• shrub with clearly woody main stem
• branches densely gray-scaly, branch tips spine-like in age [not glabrous?]

berry saltbush
Atriplex semibaccata

• perennial herb/subshrub, < 35 cm [tall?], generally mat-like with stems up to 100 cm long
• leaf ± sessile to short-petioled with tapered base, entire to wavy-dentate
• very common around the edges of the bay

beach saltbush
Atriplex leucophylla

• perennial herb/subshrub, prostrate to decumbent, < 30 cm [tall?], up to 100 cm long
• leaf sessile, entire, elliptic to wide-ovate
• one of the more common of the saltbushes

garden orache
Atriplex hortensis

• annual, erect, 50–180 cm tall
• leaf green, glabrous to sparsely scaly
• pistillate flowers of 2 kinds: with no bracts and 5 calyx lobes, or 2 bracts and no calyx lobes
• seeds of two kinds: horizontal, black with no bracts; or vertical, brown with 2 bracts

fat-hen
Atriplex prostrata

• annual, 10–120 cm tall
• leaf green, glabrous to sparsely fine-scaly
• pistillate flowers with ± no calyx
• seed generally erect/vertical between 2 bracts
• one of the more common of the saltbushes

tumbling orache
Atriplex rosea

• annual, 40–150 cm tall
• leaf ± green adaxially, densely fine-scaly abaxially, coarsely wavy-dentate

brittlescale
Atriplex depressa

• annual, < 30 cm tall
• leaf generally densely white-scaly, entire

ballscale
Atriplex fruticulosa

• wildcard with a variety of forms
• ± annual, perennial herb, or subshrub, < 30 cm [tall?]
• leaf densely gray-scaly, generally sessile, entire

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1 observed taxon / 8 unobserved taxons / 1 key

Chris’s observations: 2 (1 is research grade)

Locations:

• Ulistac Natural Area, Santa Clara: 2

Months:

• Jan.: 1
• Feb.: 0
• Mar.: 0
• Apr.: 0
• May: 0
• Jun.: 1

For more details, use advanced search.

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Taxon info: iNaturalist – Calflora – Jepson eFlora – FNA

Bay Area species: iNaturalist – Calflora