Atriplex powellii var. powellii

Endemic
Synonyms: Atriplex nelsonii M. E. Jones Atriplex philonitra A. Nelson
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Treatment on page 353. Mentioned on page 352.

Herbs, dioecious or sometimes monoecious, (0.5–) 1–5 (–7) dm. Leaves on petioles 0.3–2.5 (–3.5) cm proximally, becoming subsessile (rarely sessile) or more commonly short petiolate distally, blade conspicuously 3-veined, deltoid-ovate to orbicular-ovate or cordate-ovate to elliptic, 5–25 (–35) mm and about as wide, base acute or cuneate to obtuse or subcordate, scurfy. Flowers of both sexes intermixed in axillary glomerules, or borne on separate plants. Staminate flowers 5-merous. Fruiting bracteoles sessile, oval to obovate, 1.5–5.5  1.5–5 mm, apical tooth central to 2 rounded lobes, sometimes constricted basally, giving an overall violin shape, sometimes slenderly appendaged marginally and faces often obscured by appendages. Seeds yellowish-brown or greenish, 1–1.5 (–2) mm.


Phenology: Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat: Saline, usually fine-textured clay or silty substrates, in greasewood, rabbitbrush, shadscale, seepweed, mat-atriplex, juniper-pinyon, and blackbrush communities
Elevation: 700-2000 m

Distribution

V4 678-distribution-map.gif

Alta., Sask., Ariz., Colo., Idaho, Mont., Nebr., N.Mex., Oreg., S.Dak., Utah, Wyo.

Discussion

This rather widely distributed annual approaches being truly dioecious, but in occasional specimens the flowers of the opposite gender are present, intermixed in glomerules, as in Atriplex powellii var. minuticarpa, resulting in monoecious individuals. Peculiar specimens are known which display hemispheric clusters of staminate flowers to 6 mm wide, especially on the west side of the San Rafael Swell in Utah; perhaps they are mere teratological forms. The species sometimes forms extensive stands on raw exposed geological strata in eastern Utah, especially on the Mancos Shale and its subordinate strata.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"/2" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property."dm" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property."dm" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property."dm" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property.

ovate +  and oblong or broadly cuneate or panduriform +
constricted +
Stanley L. Welsh +
S. Watson +
slippery +
aromatic +
cuneate +  and obtuse or subcordate +
Argenteae +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br />) +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
deltoid-ovate +  and orbicular-ovate or cordate-ovate +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
persistent +  and deciduous +
reddish-brown +, black +, brown +  and green +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (?) +
cuneate +  and ovate or obovate +
not crested +
4-5-lobed +
Alta. +, Sask. +, Ariz. +, Colo. +, Idaho +, Mont. +, Nebr. +, N.Mex. +, Oreg. +, S.Dak. +, Utah +  and Wyo. +
700-2000 m +
smooth +  and tuberculate +
5-merous +  and staminate +
rarely +  and lacking +
unisexual +  and bisexual +
not +  and connate +
enlarged +
Saline, usually fine-textured clay or silty substrates, in greasewood, rabbitbrush, shadscale, seepweed, mat-atriplex, juniper-pinyon, and blackbrush communities +
arachnoid +  and scurfy +
bladderlike +
terminal +  and axillary +
petiolate +  and subsessile +
deciduous +  and persistent +
rounded +
not winged +  and winged +
lobed +  and serrate-dentate +
stipitate +, sessile +  and monomorphic +
inferior +, half-inferior +  and superior +
crassinucellate +  and bitegmic +
campylotropous +
1 +  and single +
persistent +  and deciduous +
(1-)3-5-lobed +
papery +  and chartaceous +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br />) +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
Flowering summer–fall. +
tridentate +  and cuspidate +
petiolate +, short +  and subsessile +
Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts +
bulbous +  and taprooted +
fusiform +
fleshy +  and fibrous +
verrucate +  and striate +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
greenish +  and yellowish-brown +
flattened +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br />) +
cylindric +
3 +  and 5 +
opposite +  and alternate +
slender +  and stout +
succulent +
sessile +  and petiolate +
reduced;small +
horizontal +  and vertical +
verrucate +
tridentate +  and cuspidate +
Atriplex nelsonii +  and Atriplex philonitra +
Atriplex powellii var. powellii +
Atriplex powellii +
variety +
dicotyledonous +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
monoecious +  and dioecious +