Atriplex watsonii

A. Nelson ex Abrams

Fl. Los Angeles, 128. 1904.

Common names: Watson’s orach
Illustrated
Basionym: Atriplex decumbens S. Watson Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 12: 275. 1877,
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Treatment on page 367. Mentioned on page 324, 365, 366.

Herbs, dioecious, prostrate or decumbent, 2–10 dm. Stems forming tangled mats 1–3 m across, woody at base, white scurfy. Leaves numerous, mostly opposite; blade broadly elliptic to ovate, 8–25 mm, often surpassing internodes, thick and fleshy (when fresh), margin entire, apex acutish, white scurfy. Staminate flowers in large glomerules in naked, interrupted terminal spikes; calyx 5-cleft. Pistillate flowers in small, axillary clusters. Fruiting bracteoles sessile or short stipitate, ovate to rhombic, united to beyond middle, 4–8 mm, margin entire to erose, faces plane. Seeds light-brown, 1–1.5 mm.


Phenology: Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat: Coastal and insular bluffs, beaches, strands, salt marshes, sage scrub, with saltgrass and other salt-tolerant species
Elevation: 0-100 m

Distribution

V4 720-distribution-map.gif

Calif., Mexico (Baja California)

Discussion

Atriplex watsonii is a sprawling plant that exhibits much variation in leaf size, as attested in the clearly staminate type collection, Palmer 334, wherein the range in size is from 5–25 × 2.5–11 mm wide. Although typically placed adjacent to A. matamorensis, the other dioecious perennial, the two taxa are probably not closely allied. The broader-leaved phases simulate closely A. leucophylla, with which it is sometimes confused, and perhaps the relationship lies in that direction, but it closely simulates A. californica, with which it is probably most closely allied.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

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

... more about "Atriplex watsonii"
acutish +
Stanley L. Welsh +
A. Nelson ex Abrams +
slippery +
aromatic +
Atriplex decumbens +
stipitate +, short +  and sessile +
broadly elliptic +  and ovate +
0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 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 +
3-5-parted +
Watson’s orach +
Calif. +  and Mexico (Baja California) +
0-100 m +
unappendaged +
pistillate +  and staminate +
rarely +  and lacking +
unisexual +  and bisexual +
not +  and connate +
enlarged +
Coastal and insular bluffs, beaches, strands, salt marshes, sage scrub, with saltgrass and other salt-tolerant species +
bladderlike +
terminal +  and axillary +
deciduous +  and persistent +
entire +  and erose +
lobed +  and serrate-dentate +
inferior +, half-inferior +  and superior +
crassinucellate +  and bitegmic +
campylotropous +
1 +  and single +
persistent +  and deciduous +
(1-)3-5-lobed +
papery +  and chartaceous +
Flowering spring–fall. +
Fl. Los Angeles, +
lateral +  and superior +
bulbous +  and taprooted +
fusiform +
fleshy +  and fibrous +
verrucate +  and striate +
light-brown +
flattened +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br />) +
Illustrated +
cylindric +
3 +  and 5 +
opposite +  and alternate +
100 cm1,000 mm <br />1 m <br /> (300 cm3,000 mm <br />3 m <br />) +
sessile +  and petiolate +
reduced;small +
horizontal +  and vertical +
verrucate +
Atriplex sect. Obione +
Atriplex watsonii +
Atriplex subsect. Californicae +
species +
interrupted +  and naked +
dicotyledonous +
stipitate +, sessile +  and monomorphic +