Atriplex spinifera
Contr. Gray Herb. 53: 11. 1918.
Shrubs, dioecious, erect, intricately much branched, mainly 3–15 dm; branchlets terete, becoming rigid and spinose. Leaves short petiolate to sessile; blade ovate-deltate to elliptic or spatulate, (5–) 10–27 mm, entire or subhastate. Staminate flowers borne in small axillary glomerules. Pistillate flowers borne solitary or few in bract-axils on short, spinose, lateral branchlets of a paniculate inflorescence. Fruiting bracteoles sessile or nearly so, body globose, connate, constricted below oblong to orbicular wings, 7–15 ×3.5–10 mm, entire or obscurely dentate, faces smooth to sparingly cristate. Seeds reddish-brown, 2–2.8 mm.
Phenology: Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat: Xeric saline substrates, with mixed salt desert shrubs
Elevation: 30-1300 m
Discussion
Spiny saltbush apparently forms occasional hybrids with phases of Atriplex canescens, as indicated by the presence of wings on some of the fruiting bracteoles.
Selected References
None.