8. Atriplex wrightii S. Watson (Wright’s saltbush)
Map 1518
Stems 15–60(–100)
cm tall, erect or strongly ascending, the branches ascending. Leaves mostly
alternate, the lowermost leaves opposite or nearly so, sessile to
short-petiolate. Leaf blades 0.5–7.0 cm long, mostly more than 4 times as long
as wide and widest at or above the midpoint, linear to oblanceolate or
elliptic, long-tapered or angled at the base, rounded (sometimes with a minute,
sharp point) to sharply pointed at the tip, the margins entire or with shallow,
irregular, sometimes wavy teeth, appearing green on the upper surface at
maturity (often sparsely mealy when young), silvery gray (mealy) on the
undersurface. Staminate flowers in short, clusterlike spikes, these axillary
among the uppermost leaves and forming narrow, elongate, terminal, spikelike
panicles. Pistillate flowers in axillary clusters, all similar, lacking a
perianth. Bracts at fruiting fused to far above the midpoint, 2–3 mm long,
depressed-ovate to irregularly circular in outline, appearing sessile or
narrowed to a short, stalklike base, the margins irregularly toothed, the fused
portion becoming hardened and somewhat bony, the surfaces lacking tubercles or
crests. Fruits difficult to separate from the bracts. Seeds all similar in size
and color, 1.0–1.5 mm long, light brown to brown, more or less shiny, the tip
of the radicle (seedling root) positioned above the remaining body of the seed.
2n=18. July–September.
Introduced,
uncommon, known thus far only from the city of St. Louis (Arizona to Texas).
Railroads.
The inclusion of
this species in the Missouri flora is based upon a specimen collected in the
St. Louis railyards that Viktor Mühlenbach was unable to determine with
confidence in 1956, which finally was identified in 1996 by Hilda Flores Olvera
of the National Autonomous University in Mexico City.