4. Atriplex patula L. (spear-scale, fat hen saltbush)
Pl. 352 a; Map
1514
Stems 8–150 cm
tall, prostrate to erect, often climbing over other vegetation, the branches
mostly spreading. Leaves alternate, sessile to more commonly short-petiolate.
Leaf blades 1–12 cm long, 2–6 times as long as wide and mostly widest toward
the base, linear to triangular-ovate, tapered or sometimes angled at the base,
mostly sharply pointed at the tip, mostly unlobed but sometimes the largest
leaves with a pair of short, blunt basal lobes, these loosely angled toward the
leaf tip, the margins otherwise entire or with few to several irregular wavy
teeth, silvery gray especially on the undersurface when young, the mealiness
usually disappearing by flowering and the surfaces then uniformly green (rarely
persistent to fruiting). Staminate flowers axillary and terminal, appearing as
elongate spikes with clusters of flowers, these occasionally appearing
paniculate. Pistillate flowers intermingled with the staminate ones, all similar,
lacking a perianth. Bracts at fruiting fused to below the midpoint, 3–7 mm
long, broadly triangular-ovate or rhombic, appearing sessile or nearly so, the
margins entire or with a few teeth around the midpoint, at maturity becoming
more or less uniformly papery or leathery, not spongy-thickened, the surfaces
occasionally with a pair of narrow, irregular tubercles. Fruits easily
separable from the bracts. Seeds usually of 2 kinds, some 2.5–3.5 mm long,
brown, dull or shiny; others 1.5–2.5 mm long, black, shiny; in both types, the
tip of the radicle (seedling root) positioned below or less commonly alongside
the remaining body of the seed. 2n=36. July–September.
Introduced,
uncommon in the northern half of the state (native of Europe, Asia; introduced widely
in the U.S. and Canada). Fallow fields, roadsides, railroads, and open,
disturbed areas.
For a discussion
of differences between this species and the closely related A. prostrata,
see the treatment of that species.