288 GENUS ATRIPLEX. 



USES. 



There is probably no commercial value to this saltbush, notwithstanding reports from 

 Colorado that it is frequently fed as hay, and others from southern California that 

 expansa makes good hay if cut in May and treated like wheat or barley hay (Calif. Agr. 

 Exp. Sta. Rep. 1898-1901, 367). The difficulty of utilizing the wild growth is that it 

 seldom forms solid stands, but usually grows sparsely on disturbed soils, especially in 

 stubble. If it is really palatable to stock, as indicated in the reports referred to, it might 

 be profitably used as a summer crop to follow hay on moderately alkaline soils, thus serv- 

 ing at once to supply food for stock and to remove the alkali. It is possible, too, that it 

 might be used for ensilage. Detailed chemical studies and feeding experiments have 

 been reported upon by Headden (Colo. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 14:61-76, 1907) ; a description 

 and chemical analysis are given by Knight, Hepner, and Nelson (Wyo. Agr. Exp. Sta. 

 Bull. 65:48, 1905) ; and information on germination and growth under cultural conditions 

 are supplied by Elias Nelson (Wyo. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 63:1-19, 1904). The general 

 experience of stock-feeders is that Atriplex furnishes only an inferior feed which animals 

 will not eat, except in times of great nee^. 



Since the pollen is a frequent cause of hay-fever, it is used by specialists in the prepara- 

 tion of extracts for the prevention of this disease. The methods employed have been 

 described under Atriplex rosea (p. 260). 



22. ATRIPLEX CORON ATA Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. 9: 114, 1874. Plate43. Crownscale. 



Erect or spreading annual herb, 1 to 3 dm. high, branched from the base and bushy or 

 sometimes simple below ; branches stout or slender, not angled, furfuraceoUs, glabrate in 

 age, the bark then stramineous ; leaves alternate except the lower, all but the upper ones 

 petiolate, mostly approaching elliptic, but nearly all broadest below the middle, the upper 

 ones ovate (never deltoid nor with hastate base), middle and lower ones decidedly nar- 

 rowed to the base, all acute at apex, 0.5 to 2.5 cm. long, 0.3 to 1 cm. wide, entire, thin, 

 grayish furfuraceous, glabrate; flowers monoecious, in dense axillary glomerules, the pis- 

 tillate in nearly all of the axils, the staminate mixing with them in the upper axils and 

 perhaps forming pure glomerules near the ends of the branches (naked staminate spikes 

 not thus far found) ; perianth of 4 or 5 sepals in the staminate flowers, wanting in the pis- 

 tillate; fruiting bracts sessile, compressed, united to above the middle, broadly obovate 

 or flabelliform, 3 to 4 or rarely 5 mm. long, 3 to 5.5 mm. broad, mostly broader than long, 

 the green foliaceous margins irregularly dentate or laciniate, the faces smooth (except for 

 the dense scurf) to cristate with numerous long appendages; seed 1 to 1.5 mm. long, dark 

 purplish-brown or burnt umber, shining; radicle superior. 



Interior of California, from the lower Sacramento Valley throughout the San Joaquin 

 Valley, where common, to San Jacinto Lake, Riverside County, and perhaps to Lower 

 California. Type locality given as San Joaquin Valley, California, in alkaline soil 

 {Brewer 1189), and near Fort Mojave {Cooper); but Brewer states in his Field Book that 

 No. 1189 came from an alkaline valley in Livermore Pass. This pass is on the westerly 

 side of the San Joaquin Valley and just southeast of Mount Diablo. The Fort Mojave 

 reference is probably an error. Collections (all from California): Collinsville, Solano 

 County, May 13, 1892, Jepson (Herb. Jepson, type of A. verna Jepson, minor variation 

 6); 4 km. north of Collinsville, Hall 11015 (UC, same variation); between Antioch and 

 Marsh Creek, Contra Costa County, May 3, 1907, Brandegee (UC); type collection. 

 Brewer 1189 (Gr, UC, US) ; near Chowchilla, Madera County, Hall 11758 (UC) ; Santa Fe 

 Canal, near Los Banos, Merced County, July 9, 1921, Kennedy (UC); near Dos Palos, 

 Merced County, Hall 11020 (UC); near Kern Lake, Davy 2135, 2138 (UC, minor varia- 

 tion 5, A. verna Jepson); dried bed of San Jacinto Lake, May 17, 1901, Jepson 1240 



