Atriplex garrettii var. garrettii

Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Treatment on page 375.

Plants mostly 2–6 × 5–10+ dm. Leaves 9 or fewer on first flowering branch of current growth, alternate or proximal ones opposite or nearly so; petiole 2–6 mm; blade obovate to obovate-elliptic or orbiculate, 25–50 × 15–32 mm, margin entire or repand-dentate, apex rounded to acute. Staminate flowers dark-brown to tan, or rarely yellow, in panicles mainly 2–8 cm. Pistillate flowers in spikes or spicate panicles 10–30 cm. Fruiting bracteoles sessile or on stipes to 7 mm, body 4-winged, 6–10 mm and wide, apical teeth 0.8–1.5 mm, wings denticulate, 3–4 mm wide.


Phenology: Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat: Shadscale, rabbitbrush, ephedra, eriogonum, blackbrush, and mixed shrub-grass communities on fine-textured substrates, talus slopes of canyons of the San Juan and Colorado Rivers
Elevation: 1100-1900 m

Discussion

This distinctive plant has been regarded as a portion of the variation within an expanded Atriplex canescens, with which it shares the feature of 4-winged, pistillate, fruiting bracteoles, but it is possibly more closely allied with A. confertifolia, with which it hybridizes. However, the plants simulate the growth form of the geographically contiguous A. gardneri var. cuneata, and possibly its affinity lies in that direction.

Garrett’s saltbush grows on slopes along the canyons of the Colorado and San Juan rivers, mainly rooted into the fine-textured saline substrates of the Chinle and Moenkop formations, with a thin mantle of sandstone detritus derived from Navajo and Wingate sandstones. Much of the habitat has been inundated by Lake Powell.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"wide" is not a number."dm" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property.

wingless +  and winged +
rounded +  and acute +
0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br /> (0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br />) +
Stanley L. Welsh +
Rydberg +
slippery +
aromatic +
obtuse +  and cuneate +
Undefined subg. Pterochiton +  and Atriplex sect. Deserticola +
yellow green +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
obovate +  and obovate-elliptic or orbiculate +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (3.2 cm32 mm <br />0.032 m <br />) +
toothed +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
persistent +  and deciduous +
reddish-brown +, black +, brown +  and green +
3-5-parted +
1100-1900 m +
pistillate +  and staminate +
dark-brown +  and tan or rarely yellow +
unisexual +  and bisexual +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
not +  and connate +
enlarged +
Shadscale, rabbitbrush, ephedra, eriogonum, blackbrush, and mixed shrub-grass communities on fine-textured substrates, talus slopes of canyons of the San Juan and Colorado Rivers +
bladderlike +
terminal +  and axillary +
sessile +  and petiolate +
alternate +, subopposite +  and opposite +
deciduous +  and persistent +
not winged +  and winged +
repand-dentate +  and entire +
toothed +  and lobed +
stipitate +  and sessile +
inferior +, half-inferior +  and superior +
crassinucellate +  and bitegmic +
campylotropous +
1 +  and single +
10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br /> (15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br />) +
10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
persistent +  and deciduous +
(1-)3-5-lobed +
papery +  and chartaceous +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br />) +
Flowering spring–fall. +
flattened +
nearly +, opposite +  and alternate +
Bull. Torrey Bot. Club +
pointing +  and ascending +
sublateral +  and superior +
bulbous +  and taprooted +
fusiform +
fleshy +  and fibrous +
verrucate +  and striate +
flattened +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (?) +
cylindric +
3 +  and 5 +
opposite +  and alternate +
succulent +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
sessile +  and petiolate +
reduced;small +
horizontal +  and vertical +
verrucate +
Atriplex canescens subsp. garrettii +  and Atriplex canescens var. garrettii +
Atriplex garrettii var. garrettii +
Atriplex garrettii +
variety +
spicate +  and naked +
spicate +  and naked +
tuberculate +
dicotyledonous +
perennial +  and annual +
5dm +  and 10dm +
denticulate +
3mm;4mm +