Atriplex glabriuscula var. acadiensis

(Taschereau) S. L. Welsh

Rhodora 102: 417. 2001.

Common names: Acadian orach
Endemic
Basionym: Atriplex acadiensis Taschereau Canad. J. Bot. 50: 1577, figs. 2, 9. 1972
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Treatment on page 338. Mentioned on page 333.
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Herbs, erect, 2–4 dm; branches opposite to subopposite or clearly alternate. Stems often red striped, weakly angular. Leaves: petiole 2–15 (–25) mm; blade triangular or lance-hastate, 5–70 (–80) × 3–50 mm, ± lobed or dentate to entire, distal ones lanceolate and entire but with short hastate lobes. Flowers in interrupted spicate inflorescences, terminal on main-stem and branches, and axillary glomerules loose and widely spaced, with linear or lance-linear bracts. Bracteoles becoming yellow-brown in age, sessile or the axillary bracteoles with a stipe 2–5+ mm, ovate-triangular to ovate, 5–7 mm, margin with lateral angles not clearly produced, entire or with a single tooth, apex acuminate, faces smooth, sparsely scurfy, rarely with 2 thin, weak tubercles. Seeds dimorphic: brown, round, 2.5–3.5 (–4) mm wide, with radicle basal to subbasal and divaricate most abundant, or black, round, 2–3 mm, with radicle basal and divaricate. 2n = 36.


Phenology: Flowering late summer–fall.
Habitat: Salt marshes, with Spartina patens
Elevation: 0-50 m

Distribution

V4 641-distribution-map.gif

N.B., N.S., P.E.I., Que., Maine, Mass.

Discussion

Historically, Atriplex glabriuscula var. acadiensis has been thought to be closely allied to the ruderal weed, Atriplex patula (with which it is often sympatric, and with which it was synonymized by H. A. Gleason and A. Cronquist 1991). Atriplex glabriuscula var. acadiensis differs from A. patula in being shorter and stockier and having ovate-triangular bracteoles jointed only at the base (not rhombic-triangular with margins united almost to the middle). The taxon, like A. glabriuscula in the broad sense, appears to be confined mainly to native habitats on sea beaches, and apparently is not, or seldom, a ruderal weed as is the case with A. patula. It grows occasionally with the indigenous A. dioica, which has elliptic not round seeds.

Plants examined from New Brunswick typically have at least half of the nodes opposite and opposite branches of unequal size. The plants seem to be closely allied to, and perhaps not always separable from, the largely sympatric Atriplex glabriuscula. I. J. Bassett et al. (1983) indicated that A. acadiensis formed spontaneous hybrids with A. glabriuscula in the Botanic Garden at Manchester England, noting further that these “presumably sterile triploid hybrids exhibited marked heterosis.”

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

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

acuminate +
Stanley L. Welsh +
(Taschereau) S. L. Welsh +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
slippery +
aromatic +
toothed +, entire +  and cuneate +
Atriplex acadiensis +
some +  and entire +
7 cm70 mm <br />0.07 m <br /> (8 cm80 mm <br />0.08 m <br />) +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (7 cm70 mm <br />0.07 m <br />) +
lobed +, lance-hastate +  and triangular +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
lance-linear +  and linear +
persistent +  and deciduous +
ovate-triangular +  and rhombic-triangular +
alternate +, opposite +  and subopposite +
3-5-parted +
Acadian orach +
N.B. +, N.S. +, P.E.I. +, Que. +, Maine +  and Mass. +
0-50 m +
smooth +, tuberculate +  and muricate +
inflated +
unisexual +  and bisexual +
not +  and connate +
enlarged +
Salt marshes, with Spartina patens +
bladderlike +
spicate +  and interrupted +
terminal +  and axillary +
opposite +  and alternate +
deciduous +  and persistent +
spreading +  and antrorse +
hastate +
not winged +  and winged +
with a single tooth +  and entire +
toothed +  and entire +
inferior +, half-inferior +  and superior +
crassinucellate +  and bitegmic +
campylotropous +
1 +  and single +
persistent +  and deciduous +
(1-)3-5-lobed +
papery +  and chartaceous +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br />) +
Flowering late summer–fall. +
basal +  and subbasal +
bulbous +  and taprooted +
fusiform +
fleshy +  and fibrous +
verrucate +  and striate +
black +  and brown +
spreading +  and antrorse +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br /> (0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br />) +
interrupted +  and foliose +
cylindric +
3 +  and 5 +
opposite +  and alternate +
red striped +
sparsely scurfy +  and glabrous +
succulent +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
sessile +  and petiolate +
reduced;small +
horizontal +  and vertical +
verrucate +
Hastatae +
Atriplex glabriuscula var. acadiensis +
Atriplex glabriuscula +
variety +
dicotyledonous +