Atriplex elegans

Atriplex elegans is a species of saltbush known by the common name wheelscale saltbush, Mecca orach,[5]:270 or wheelscale.[5]:270 It is native to the Southwestern United States, and northern Mexico, where it grows in areas of saline or alkaline soils, such as alkali flats and desert dry lakebeds.

Atriplex elegans
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Genus: Atriplex
Species:
A. elegans
Binomial name
Atriplex elegans
Subspecies
  • Atriplex elegans var. coronata (S. Watson) M.E. Jones, 1908[2]
  • Atriplex elegans subsp. elegans
  • Atriplex elegans var. elegans
  • Atriplex elegans subsp. fasciculata (S. Watson) H.M. Hall & Clem., 1923[3]
  • Atriplex elegans var. fasciculata (S. Watson) M.E. Jones, 1908[2]
  • Atriplex elegans subsp. thornberi (M.E. Jones) W.L. Wagner, 1978[4]
  • Atriplex elegans var. thornberi M.E. Jones, 1908[2]
  • Atriplex elegans subsp. typica H.M. Hall & Clem., 1923[3]
Synonyms
  • Obione elegans Moq.

Description

This is an annual herb with a scaly branching stem which spreads somewhat upright to heights between 10 and 50 centimeters. The crusty whitish leaves are narrowly oval in shape, sometimes toothed along the edges, and less than 3 centimeters long. The inflorescences bear separate male and female flowers which are in small, hard clusters.

References
  1. D. Dietr. Syn. Pl. 5: 537 1852
  2. M.E. Jones Contr. W. Bot. 12: 76 1908
  3. H.M. Hall & Clem. Publ. Carnegie Inst. Wash. 326: 301 1923
  4. W.L. Wagner Gen. Techn. Rep. Rocky Mount. Forest & Range Exp. Sta. RM–57: 50 1978
  5. Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Pam MacKay, 2nd ed., 2013, ISBN 978-0-7627-8033-4
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