B27 



FOURWING SALTBUSH 



A'triplex canes'cens, syns. A. occidenta'lis, A. tetrap'tera 



In the illustration below, A represents a male (staminate) plant and B represents a 



female , (pistillate) plant 



Flowers small, of two .kinds: male 

 (staminate), and female (pistillate), 

 borne mostly on separate plants (dioe- 

 cious) 



Female flowers small, inconspicuous, 

 axillary, clustered, stalked, with no 

 flower parts except the 2 small united 

 bracts which enclose the seed-producing 

 organ (pistil) and enlarge as the 'fruit 

 develops 



Male flowers without petals, not seed- 

 producing, in dense, conspicuous clus- 

 ters (spikes or spikelike panicles) near 

 the ends of the twigs; flower cup 

 (calyx) usually 5-parted; stamens of 

 same number as calyx lobes 



Leaves alternate or somewhat clus- 

 tered, stalkless, narrow, linear to linear- 

 oblong or spatula-shaped, up to % in. 

 wide and 2 m. long, finely scurfy-hairy 



Twigs whitish, scurfy-hairy when 

 young 



"Seed", or fruit (utricle) 1-celled, 1- 

 seeded, 4-winged 



Fruiting "bracts much enlarged, united 

 nearly to apex, each with 2 broad dorsal 

 wings; wings rounded in outline, .up to 

 % in. . wide, thin, net-veined, usually 

 toothed around the edges 



Fourwing saltbush is a grayish-white, scurfy shrub, branching freely almost 

 from the surface of the ground, and occasionally attaining a height of 6 to 10 

 feet, though it is usually lower. In New Mexico it is almost wholly known as 

 chamiza, and that name (or its variants, chamise and chamiso) is in common 

 use elsewhere. The name fourwing saltbuih, the suggestion of Dr. Frederick 

 V. Coville of the Bureau of Plant Industry, is a free translation of the Greek 

 synonymous name tetraptera. Atrlple canescens is often misnamed shadscale, 



