TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
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Jepson Interchange (more information) |
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©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
For up-to-date information about California vascular plants, visit the Jepson eFlora. |
AND IS MAINTAINED FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES ONLY |
Annual to tree, sometimes monoecious or dioecious, glandular or with bead-like hairs that collapse with age, becoming scaly or powdery
Stem often fleshy
Leaves generally alternate, entire to lobed; veins generally pinnate
Inflorescence: raceme, spike, catkin-like, or spheric cluster, or flower 1; bracts 0few
Flower: sepals 15, often 0 in pistillate flowers, free or fused, generally persistent in fruit; petals 0; stamens 05; ovary generally superior, chamber 1, ovule 1, styles 13
Fruit: generally utricle
Seed 1, vertical (fruit compressed side-to-side) or horizontal (fruit compressed top-to-bottom)
Genera in family: 100 genera, 1300 species: worldwide, especially deserts, saline or alkaline soils; some cultivated for food (Beta , beets, chard; Chenopodium , quinoa)
Recent taxonomic note: Recently treated in expanded Amaranthaceae
Annual (generally monoecious) to shrub (generally dioecious), often scaly
Leaves generally alternate, generally entire; lower generally ± short-petioled; upper generally sessile, ± reduced
Staminate inflorescence: spike or spheric cluster; bracts 0
Pistillate inflorescence: clusters to spike- or panicle-like; bracts 2 per fruit, free to fused, generally compressed, generally sessile
Staminate flower: calyx lobes 35; stamens 35
Pistillate flower: calyx ± 0; ovary ovoid to spheric, style branches 2
Seed generally erect
Species in genus: ± 250 species: temp to subtropical worldwide
Etymology: (Latin: ancient name)
Generally in alkaline or saline soils; some weedy; some accumulate selenium.
Native |
Shrub < 20 dm, erect; branches many, spreading to ascending
Leaf: blade 850 mm, linear to oblanceolate, densely white-scaly
Pistillate inflorescence terminal; bracts in fruit 425 mm, generally fused to near top, ovoid to spheric, hard, wings 4, 36 mm wide, wavy to deeply sharp-dentate
Seed 1.52.5 mm
Chromosomes: 2n=18,36
Ecology: Clay to gravelly flats, slopes, scrub
Elevation: < 2400 m.
Bioregional distribution: High Sierra Nevada (e slope), Tehachapi Mountain Area, Inner South Coast Ranges, South Coast, n Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, Great Basin Floristic Province, Desert
Distribution outside California: to w Canada, South Dakota, n Mexico
Synonyms: var. laciniata Parish a form of both CA subspp
Sspp. intergrade.