338 GENUS ATRIPLEX. 



ECOLOGY. 



Atriplex lentiformis is essentially uniform in its ecological behavior, in spite of the 

 differences that mark the subspecies. It is typically an intense halophyte, as shown by 

 the determinations of Kearney. The salt-content of the first foot ranged from 2.5 to 4 

 per cent, for the second foot from 0.72 to 1.38 per cent, and for the third from 0.30 to 

 0.57 per cent. In chemical composition the alkali contained one-half NaCl, one-fifth 

 NaHCOi and considerable NaiCOj and CaS04. Its tolerance of alkali is greater than that 

 of any other plant investigated, and this is in accord with its dominance in the most 

 alkaline habitats of the Southwest. The subspecies agree in constituting initial consocies 

 that are often pure and of considerable size. In the case of typica these may be almost 

 impenetrable jungles acres in extent and 10 to 15 feet high, especially about the Salton 

 Sea and on the flood-plain of the Colorado River. Breweri behaves similarly in salt- 

 basins and on shores along the coast, though regularly lower and less dense. Both forms 

 resemble A. canescens in growing frequently on dunes. Their regular associates are 

 naturally either intense halophytes, such as Suaeda, Spirostachys, Sarcobatus, Salicornia, 

 A. polycarpa, etc., or species capable of enduring strong alkali, such as Distichlis, Sporo- 

 bolus, Prosopis, etc. 



USES. 



The lenscale, or quailbrush, as this saltbush is sometimes called, is of some value for 

 browse, especially by cattle in the desert area and in Nevada. An analysis by Forbes 

 and Skinner (Ariz. Agr. Exp. Sta. Rep. 13:269, 1902) indicates that it contains less 

 protein and more fiber than most species of Atriplex. The dense shrubs provide a shelter 

 for rabbits, quail, and other animals, a list of which has been prepared for the Lower 

 Colorado Valley by Grinnell (Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool. 12:74, 1914). The subspecies 

 breweri is cultivated to a considerable extent on the coastal slope of southern California 

 as an ornamental foliage plant. Its greatest use is for clipped hedges in wind-swept 

 places near the ocean. 



The Coahuilla Indians of southern California utilize the seeds of this species for 

 food by grinding them up and cooking with salt and water (D. P. Barrows, Ethno- 

 botany of the Coahuilla Indians of Southern California 65, 1900). Notes on the 

 Indian uses of various species of Atriplex are given by Standley (Contr. U. S. Nat. 

 Herb. 23:252, 1922). 



44. ATRIPLEX CONFERTIFOLIA (Torrey and Fremont) Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. 9:119, 

 1874. Plate 56. Shadscale ; Spiny Saltbush, 



Erect shrub, very woody throughout, rigidly branched, spiny, of rounded outline 

 when normally developed, 2 to 8 dm. high; branches not angled, stout, erect or ascending, 

 sparsely scurfy at first, soon smooth and straw-colored, the bark gray and exfoliating on 

 old basal stems ; leaves at first crowded, deciduous from the twigs which then change into 

 spines, alternate, short-petioled, orbicular-ovate, orbicular-obovate, or elliptic, rounded 

 or cuneate at base, obtuse at apex, 1 to 2 cm. long, 0.5 to 1.2 cm. wide, entire, firm but 

 not especially thick, gray with a close permanent scurf, 1- or 3-nerved from the base; 

 flowers dioecious, the staminate glomerules in the axils of reduced upper leaves and thus 

 forming short leafy-bracted spikes, the pistillate solitary or several in each of the upper 

 leaf-axils, perianth 5-cleft in the staminate flowers, wanting in the pistillate; fruiting 

 bracts sessile, convex and united over the seed, otherwise flat and free, nearly orbicular 

 or broadly elliptic, 6 to 12 mm. long, 5 to 10 mm. broad, entire (except in minor variation 

 1), the faces smooth; seed 1.5 to 2 mm. long, reddish brown; radicle superior. {Obione 

 confertifolia Torrey and Fremont, in Fremont's Rep. Rocky Mts. Ore. Calif. 318, 1845.) 



