Atriplex hymenelytra

(Torrey) S. Watson

Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 9: 129. 1874.

Common names: Desert holly
IllustratedEndemic
Basionym: Obione hymenelytra Torrey in War Department [U.S.], Pacif. Railr. Rep. 4(5): 119. 1857
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Treatment on page 376. Mentioned on page 330, 369, 371.

Shrubs, dioecious, 3–15+ dm, as wide, unarmed. Leaves persistent, alternate, petiolate; blade greenish to silvery white, orbiculate to reniform or oval, 10–40 mm, as wide or wider, prominently dentate, teeth to 10 mm, permanently scurfy. Staminate flowers yellow to purple-brown, in clusters 3–4 mm thick, borne in panicles to 3 cm. Pistillate flowers borne in inflorescences similar to staminate ones. Fruiting bracteoles sessile, rather prominently veined, orbiculate to reniform, strongly compressed, 7–10 × 7–10 mm, thin, united at base, margin entire to crenate, glabrous, lacking processes. Seeds brown, 2 mm wide; radicle sublateral. 2n = 18.


Phenology: Flowering spring.
Habitat: Warm desert shrub, on dry saline alluvial fans and hills
Elevation: 80-1200 m

Distribution

V4 743-distribution-map.gif

Ariz., Calif., Nev., Utah.

Discussion

Atriplex hymenelytra occurs with saltbush, Larrea-Ambrosia, ephedra, and yucca. This is a handsome, rounded shrub with silvery white foliage, sometimes contrasting strongly with the peculiar substrates on which it grows. Its relationships to other of the southwestern species are recondite, but possibly it is allied to A. confertifolia, with which C. A. Hanson (1962) suggested an affinity.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Atriplex hymenelytra"
Stanley L. Welsh +
(Torrey) S. Watson +
Obione hymenelytra +
Desert holly +
Ariz. +, Calif. +, Nev. +  and Utah. +
80-1200 m +
Warm desert shrub, on dry saline alluvial fans and hills +
Flowering spring. +
Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts +
Illustrated +  and Endemic +
Canescentes +, Confertifoliae +, Nuttallianae +, Obione sect. Deserticola +  and Obione subg. Pterochiton +
Atriplex hymenelytra +
Atriplex subg. Pterochiton +
species +