!()() CHENOPODIACEAE (OOOSEFOOT FAMILY) 



Bracts indurated, with flattened processes. 



Flattened vertically . . 12. A. aptera. 



Irregularly flattened . . 13. A. cuneata. 



Bracts spongy. 



Sides appendaged with spongy crests ..... 14. A. Nuttallii. 



Sides rarely appendaged, apex toothed 15. A. pabularis. 



1. Atriplex hortensis L. Sp. PL 1053. 1753. An erect annual, somewhat 

 branched above, fruiting profusely: the bracts large and thin, broadly oval or 

 ovate, mucronate, united only at the base. An escape from cultivation in 

 many places in our range. 



2. Atriplex subspicata (Wats.) Rydb. Fl. Colo. 117. 1906. A scurfy an- 

 nual, low and usually branched from the base, spreading or ascending, 1-3 dm. 

 high: leaves 1-3 cm. long, lanceolate, often hastately lobed: bracts rather 

 small, thick, deltoid or lanceolate, acute. A. patula subspicata. From the 

 Saskatchewan to Nebraska. 



3. Atriplex carnosa A. Nels. Bot. Gaz. 34: 361. 1902. Annual, stout, at 

 length widely and diffusely branched, sometimes nearly 1 m. high; stems 

 green, subglabrous: leaves thick and fleshy, oblong-lanceolate or broader, 

 3-7 cm. long, on petioles less than half as long, mostly entire, the larger ones 

 sub hastate or with 1 or more large teeth near the base: fruiting spikes nu- 

 merous, more or less panicled, at first dark green, becoming dark purple at 

 maturity; the large fleshy clusters closely approximate in a spike often 1 cm. 

 in diameter: fruiting bracts triangular-ovate, about 5 mm. long and broad, 

 usually 1 or more small teeth on the margins, smo6th on the back or with 1 

 or 2 fleshy tubercles. Saline areas; Colorado and Wyoming and westward to 

 Utah. 



Atriplex hastata L. Sp. PI. 1053. 1753. This species, common on both the Atlantic and 

 Pacific coasts, probably occurs sparingly as an introduction on wet alkali soil. It may be 

 known by its thin hastate-triangular slender-petioled leaves; small clusters in interrupted 

 slender spikes; otherwise much like the foregoing. 



4. Atriplex spatiosa A. Nels. Bot. Gaz. 34: 360. 1902. A large erect 

 annual, freely and divergently branched, often 1 m. high, greenish-gray, 

 minutely scurfy throughout: leaves ovate, 2-5 cm. long, coarsely and irreg- 

 ularly toothed, cuneate at base, rarely subhastate, nearly sessile, acute at 

 apex with a minute cusp; the floral gradually reduced, becoming lanceolate 

 and bract-like: monoecious, androgynous at least above, the flowers in small 

 axillary clusters and in ebracteate terminal spikes: calyx deeply 5-cleft: 

 fruiting bracts small, rarely 5 mm. long, ovate- triangular or orbicular, ap- 

 pressed, free above, with green border, hastately toothed near base or with 

 several smaller teeth, the back usually crested with a semicircle of small 

 slender green appendages. Waste grounds, loose banks and grades; Utah and 

 Wyoming to Colorado and Kansas. 



5. Atriplex Suckleyana (Torr.) Rydb. Mem. N. Y. Bot. Card. 1: 134. 1900. 

 Erect, 1-2 dm. high, somewhat mealy, branching from the base: leaves thin, 

 lanceolate, sessile, entire, acute, 15-20 mm. long: sterile flower-clusters 

 arachnoid; the calyx urceolate, with inflexed dorsally crested teeth; pistillate 

 flowers solitary in the lower axils, sessile: fruiting bracts ovate, 2 mm. long, 

 membranous, pubescent: ovary surrounded by 3-4 short hyaline sepals. 

 (Endolepis ovata Rydb. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 30: 248. 1903.) From Montana 

 through Wyoming. 



6. Atriplex Wolfii Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 9: 112. 1874. Slender, 10-15 cm. 

 high, branching from the base, scurf y-canescent and reddish: leaves linear, 

 8-12 mm. long, acute, sessile: flowers very small, in androgynous axillary 

 clusters: calyx deeply 5-cleft: fruiting bracts oblong, scarcely more than 1 mm. 

 long, the herbaceous summit broader than the body, with a quadrilateral 

 tooth on each side and a small acute tooth in the center. Alkaline flats; 

 Colorado. 



7. Atriplex truncata (Torr.) Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 8: 398. 1872. Scurfy- 

 canescent, either strict or freely and widely branched, 2-5 dm. high and often 

 as broad: leaves broadly ovate, 12-30 mm. long, truncate or cordate at base, 

 mostly acute, sessile or the lower short-petioled : spikes more or less leafy: 



