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Atriplex acanthocarpa pringlei

Description

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Family Chenopodiaceae

Herbs annual , subshrubs , or shrubs , rarely perennial herbs or small trees . Stems and branches sometimes jointed (articulate ) ; indumentum of vesicular hairs (furfuraceous or farinose ), ramified (dendroid), stellate , rarely of glandular hairs, or plants glabrous . Leaves alternate or opposite, exstipulate , petiolate or sessile; leaf blade flattened, terete , semiterete, or in some species reduced to scales . Flowers monochlamydeous , bisexual or unisexual (plants monoecious or dioecious, rarely polygamous) ; bracteate or ebracteate . Bractlets (if present) 1 or 2, lanceolate, navicular , or scale-like. Perianth membranous, herbaceous, or succulent, (1-) 3-5-parted; segments imbricate, rarely in 2 series, often enlarged and hardened in fruit, or with winged , acicular , or tuberculate appendages abaxially, seldom unmodified (in tribe Atripliceae female flowers without or with poorly developed perianth borne between 2 specialized bracts or at base of a bract) . Stamens shorter than or equaling perianth segments and arranged opposite them; filaments subulate or linear , united at base and usually forming a hypogynous disk, sometimes with interstaminal lobes ; anthers dorsifixed , incumbent in bud, 2-locular, extrorse , or dehiscent by lateral , longitudinal slits, obtuse or appendaged at apex. Ovary superior, ovoid or globose , of 2-5 carpels, unilocular ; ovule 1, campylotropous; style terminal , usually short, with 2(-5) filiform or subulate stigmas, rarely capitate, papillose , or hairy on one side or throughout. Fruit a utricle, rarely a pyxidium (dehiscent capsule) ; pericarp membranous, leathery, or fleshy , adnate or appressed to seed. Seed horizontal, vertical , or oblique , compressed globose, lenticular , reniform , or obliquely ovoid; testa crustaceous , leathery, membranous, or succulent; embryo annular , semi-annular, or spiral , with narrow cotyledons; endosperm much reduced or absent; perisperm abundant or absent.

Probably about 100 genera and 1400 species (depending on taxonomic opinions ) : mainly in arid areas, deserts, and coastal and saline habitats of N and S Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America; 42 genera (two endemic, two introduced ) and 190 species (21 endemic, six introduced) in China.

Many species of Chenopodiaceae are adapted to, and are major components of, arid or ruderal environments. They are often intimately involved with the daily life of people. For example, Beta vulgaris is one of the most important sources for sugar ; Chenopodium quinoa is a new high-protein crop ; Spinacia oleracea and Beta vulgaris are excellent vegetables; Dysphania ambrosioides and Salsola collina are used medicinally; seeds of Agriophyllum squarrosum are called "sand-rice" locally and are edible; seeds of Corispermum declinatum are used for making gin; the ash of Halogeton arachnoideus and some species of Salsola contains soda which is used in noodle-making; and Anabasis aphylla can be used as an insecticide . Many species are important as animal forage in desert, semidesert, and steppe regions, and some species make good windbreaks and soil binders. Haloxylon ammodendron has been used extensively in biological reconditioning of the desert.Gelin Zhu, Sergei L. Mosyakin & Steven E. Clemants "Chenopodiaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 352. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Genus Atriplex

Herbs or shrubs, annual or perennial , monoecious or dioecious, often with bladderlike hairs that collapse to form silvery or scurfy (mealy ) vesture, less often with elongate trichomes . Leaves persistent or tardily deciduous, alternate, partially opposite, or opposite, sessile or petiolate ; blade entire , serrate, or lobed , with venation either of Kranz-type or normal dicotyledonous type, axillary buds inconspicuous or lacking. Inflorescences axillary or terminal ; flowers borne in axillary clusters or glomerules , or in terminal spikes or spicate panicles. Staminate flowers with 3-5-parted calyx, ebracteate ; stamens 3-5. Pistillate flowers lacking perianth, pistil naked, or in few species with (1-) 3-5-lobed perianth, commonly enclosed within pair of foliaceous bracteoles; stigmas 2. Fruiting bracteoles enlarged in fruit, of various shapes and variously connate or not, thickened, and appendaged; pericarp free , tightly enclosed in the fruiting bracteoles. Seeds flattened, mainly vertical ; radicle inferior, lateral , or superior. x = 9.

Species ca. 250: worldwide, mainly in subarctic , temperate , and subtropical regions.

Many species of Atriplex are halophytic, others occupy soils low in dissolved particulates.

Prior to the 1900s, the genus Suckleya was treated within Atriplex, but its obcompressed fruiting bracteoles are quite unlike anything in Atriplex, and the plants were recognized as a distinct genus.Stanley L. Welsh "Atriplex". in Flora of North America Vol. 4 Page 226, 260, 268, 293,. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Taxonomy

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Similar Species

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Members of the genus Atriplex

There are approximately 974 species in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

A. abata · A. abbreviata · A. acadiensis (Maritime Saltbush) · A. acanthocarpa (Armed Saltbush) · A. acanthocarpa acanthocarpa (Parish's Glasswort) · A. acanthocarpa coahuilensis · A. acanthocarpa pringlei · A. acanthocarpa stewartii · A. acanthocarpa subsp. coahuilensis · A. acanthocarpa subsp. pringlei · A. acanthocarpa subsp. stewartii · A. accaria · A. acuminata · A. acuminata f. integrifolia · A. acuminata f. orbicularis · A. acuminata f. parvibracteata · A. acuminata f. roseocarpa · A. acuminata f. subsimplex · A. acuminata f. unicolor · A. acutibractea · A. acutibractea subsp. acutibractea · A. acutibractea subsp. karoniensis · A. acutibractea subsp. whyallensis · A. acutibractea var. acutibracta · A. acutibractea whyallensis · A. acutiloba · A. acutiloba var. acutiloba · A. acutiloba var. eu-acutiloba · A. acutiloba var. velutinelliformis · A. aerdleyae · A. agrestis · A. alaschanica · A. alaskensis (Alaska Orache) · A. alba · A. albicans · A. aldamae · A. almeriensis · A. altaica · A. amanus · A. amarantoides · A. ambigua · A. amblyostegia · A. ambrosioides · A. ameghinoi · A. amnicola · A. andina · A. angulata · A. angulata var. angulata · A. angulata var. campanulatiformis · A. angustifolia · A. angustifolia var. obtusa · A. anthelmintica · A. aptera (Moundscale) · A. arabicum · A. aralensis · A. arazdajanica · A. arenicola · A. arenicola var. albescens · A. argentea argentea (Sack Saltbush) · A. argentea argentea var. argentea (Silverscale Saltbush) · A. argentea expansa (Silverscale) · A. argentea longitrichoma (Silverscale) · A. argentea subsp. expansa · A. argentea typica (Silverscale) · A. argentea var. argentea · A. argentea var. caput-medusae (Stalked Saltbush) · A. argentea var. cornuta · A. argentea var. expansa · A. argentea var. hillmanii (Hillman's Silverscale Saltbush) · A. argentea var. longitrichoma · A. argentea var. rydbergii · A. argentia var. caput-medusae · A. argentina · A. aristata · A. asphaltitis · A. asplundii · A. asrenaria · A. assoi · A. asterocarpa (Chinle Saltbush) · A. astrachanica · A. atacamensis · A. atrosanguinea · A. aucherii · A. australasica · A. autrani · A. axillaris · A. babingtonii · A. baccata · A. barclayana (Barclay's Saltbush) · A. barclayana dilatata · A. barclayana lurida · A. barclayana magdalenae · A. barclayana sonorae · A. barclayana subsp. dilatata · A. barclayana subsp. lurida · A. barclayana subsp. magdalenae · A. barclayana subsp. palmeri · A. barclayana subsp. sonorae · A. barclayana subsp. typica · A. barclayana typica

Bibliography

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More Info

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Notes

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Identifiers

Footnotes

Last Revised: 2008-11-12