Atriplex joaquiniana

A. Nelson

Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 17: 99. 1904.

Common names: San Joaquin orach
Basionym: Atriplex spicata S. Watson Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 108. 1874, no t Stokes 1812
Synonyms: Atriplex patula subsp. spicata H. M. Hall & Clements Atriplex spicata var. lagunita Jepson
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Treatment on page 335. Mentioned on page 323, 324.

Herbs, monoecious or subdioecious, erect, sparsely branched, (1–) 3–10 dm; branches obtusely angled, rather rigidly ascending, finely farinose when young. Leaves mostly alternate; petiole 0.5–2.5 cm, becoming shorter or subsessile in distal ones; blade deltoid to rhombic-ovate or lanceolate, (10–) 15–50 (–70) × 8–40 mm, base rounded, truncate, or broadly cuneate, margin irregularly sinuate-dentate or repand-dentate to entire, sometimes subhastate, apex obtuse to acute; distal blades often narrower and sometimes entire except for basal lobes. Flowers in dense or interrupted, naked, simple or paniculate spikes mainly 5–8 mm thick, staminate ones 4-merous. Fruiting bracteoles densely packed on rachis, sessile, ovate-oblong or rounded-deltoid, (2–) 2.5–3 (–4.5) mm, united only at rounded or truncate base, angled and cristate on faces, thin or spongy-thickened. Seeds dark-brown or black, 0.8–1.5 mm; radicle inferior.


Phenology: Flowering summer.
Habitat: Alkali sink scrub or alkaline grasslands
Elevation: 0-200(-300) m

Discussion

Atriplex joaquiniana commonly occurs with Distichlis spicata, Allenrolfea occidentalis, Suaeda moquinii, Frankenia salina, Hordeum depressum, Spergularia macrotheca, and various annual species. H. M. Hall and F. E. Clements (1923) placed the relationship of this very distinctive California endemic with the Atriplex patula complex, with which one can make out a distant affinity. It differs from all other members previously treated within that complex in the small, more or less quadrangular fruiting bracteoles, which are typically crested on one or both elevated faces and have entire or less commonly dentate margins. The bracteoles are borne in very compact simple or paniculate spikes.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

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

... more about "Atriplex joaquiniana"
obtuse +  and acute +
Stanley L. Welsh +
A. Nelson +
slippery +
aromatic +
angled +, truncate +, rounded +  and cuneate +
Atriplex spicata +
5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (7 cm70 mm <br />0.07 m <br />) +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
deltoid +  and rhombic-ovate or lanceolate +
0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br /> (4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br />) +
persistent +  and deciduous +
reddish-brown +, black +, brown +  and green +
linear +  and deltoid +
3-5-parted +
San Joaquin orach +
0-200(-300) m +
tuberculate +  and smooth +
cristate +
spongy-thickened +  and thin +
4-merous +  and staminate +
unisexual +  and bisexual +
not +  and connate +
enlarged +
Alkali sink scrub or alkaline grasslands +
bladderlike +
terminal +  and axillary +
deciduous +  and persistent +
not winged +  and winged +
entire +, repand-dentate +  and sinuate-dentate +
subhastate +
inferior +, half-inferior +  and superior +
crassinucellate +  and bitegmic +
campylotropous +
1 +  and single +
persistent +  and deciduous +
(1-)3-5-lobed +
papery +  and chartaceous +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
Flowering summer. +
Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.45 cm4.5 mm <br />0.0045 m <br />) +
rounded-deltoid +  and ovate-oblong +
bulbous +  and taprooted +
fusiform +
fleshy +  and fibrous +
verrucate +  and striate +
black +  and dark-brown +
flattened +
0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br /> (0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br />) +
simple +, naked +  and interrupted +
cylindric +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br />) +
3 +  and 5 +
opposite +  and alternate +
succulent +
sessile +  and petiolate +
reduced;small +
horizontal +  and vertical +
verrucate +
Atriplex patula subsp. spicata +  and Atriplex spicata var. lagunita +
Atriplex joaquiniana +
Atriplex sect. Teutliopsis +
species +
dicotyledonous +
subdioecious +  and monoecious +