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Published In: Species Plantarum 2: 1053–1054. 1753. (1 May 1753) (Sp. Pl.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/11/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Introduced

 

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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.

 


 

 
 
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