254 GENUS ATRIPLEX. 



17. A. PATTJLA HASTATA, but with much enlarged bracts, the other characters similar to those of A. camosa 

 Nelson (No. 3 of this list). In a collection from alkaline roadsides east of Sparks, Nevada {Hall 11232, UC), the 

 mature bracts of one plant are in part of the usual type and 3 to 4 mm. long, while others on the same branches 

 vary through all intermediate sizes up to 13 mm. long and nearly as wide. Some of these larger bracts are 

 smooth on the faces, others tuberculate or cristate. 



18. A. PATULA var. litoralis Gray, 1. c. — Based upon A. liioralis Linnaeus, therefore the same as A. patvla 

 IHoralis, although Gray's description includes also the lance-leaved A. p. typica. 



19. A. PATULA var. subspicata Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. 9:107, 1874. — Based upon Chenopodium sub- 

 spicatum Nuttall, No. 24 of this list. 



20. A. ptmsHiANA Moquin, Chenop. Enum. .55, 1840. — Referred by Standley (1. e.) to A. hastata. 



21. A. SPICATA Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. 9:108, 1874. — A. patula spicata. 



22. A. SPICATA var. lagunita Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Calif. 179, 1901.— The original description in full is as fol- 

 lows: "Very slender, simple, 5 to 8 in. high; fruiting bracts 1}4 lines long. Lagoon Valley, Solano County, 

 California, September, 1891." The types are nearly leafless fruiting plants scarcely distinguishable from spicata, 

 save by their small size and slender habit. 



23. A. zosteeaefoua Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. 9:109, 1874.— Based upon Chenopodium zosteraefolium 

 Hooker and therefore A. patula zosteraefolia. 



23a. A. subspicata Rydberg, Bull. Torr Club 33:137, 1906. Based upon Chenopodium suhspicatum, 

 which see. 



24. Chenopodium subspicatum Nuttall, Genera 1 : 199, 1818.— A form of A. patula hastata very close to, if 

 not identical with, the later A. camosa Nelson, of this list. A specimen in the herbarium of the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Sciences is labeled "Upper Louisiana, Niiltall," which is probably a portion of the type collection. 

 This has the usual moniliform staminate inflorescences and thick deltoid leaves characteristic of the camosa 

 form. The type locality is saline soils around the Mandan village, Missouri. This was included in the original 

 Territory of Louisiana. 



25. C. (?) ZOSTERAEFOLIUM Hooker, Fl. Bor. Am. 2:127, 1838. — A. patula zosteraefolia. Hooker distin- 

 guished two forms in the type collection, one with leaves linear and scarcely 2 mm. wide, the other with leaves 

 linear-oblong, broader, and shorter. 



RELATIONSHIPS. 



Atriplex patula evidences a considerable degree of evolutionary advancement along 

 certain lines, notably the entire suppression of the perianth and the production of a 

 large variety of forms adapted to diversified conditions. However, it retains the 

 inferior position of the radicle and the monoecious habit, these traits indicating that it 

 diverged from the main line at a very early period. The bracts also are still either 

 distinct nearly to the base, or the margins are united only along the lower portion. 

 The most closely related species seem to be of the rosea group, from all of which, how- 

 ever, it differs in the non-cartilaginous bracts and other characters. There is no 

 direct connection with any other group. 



The taxonomic segregates of A. patula are more numerous than those of any other 

 species. The 16 species and varieties proposed by taxonomists from among the North 

 American forms may be taken as only the beginning, since little attention has as yet 

 been given to most of the characters and combinations of characters used as the basis 

 for segregates in Europe, where the total number of these considerably exceeds 100. 

 Something as to the difficulty of organizing these units was expressed by Ascherson and 

 Graebner (Syn. Mitteleur. Fl. 5:123, 1913), who state that A. patula, even exclusive of 

 litoralis and hastata, which they treat as distinct collective species, is so extraordinarily 

 variable in almost all its parts that it appears impossible to bring the proposed forms 

 into any sort of a classification except on the basis of single characters. These authors 

 Ust 34 named variations of A. patula, the descriptions taken mostly from other sources, 

 often with the remark that they have almost no value. Fourteen variations of hastata 

 are also enumerated. The characters most commonly used in Europe are habit and 

 color of plant, and size, texture, and dentation of the bracts and leaves.^ 



A much more satisfactory treatment is given for the forms which occur in 

 the British Islands, by Mo.ss and Wilmott (in Moss, Cambridge Brit. Fl. 2: 170-179, 1914). 

 Here four species are recognized, litoralis, patula, hastata, and glabriuscula, each with a 



• Turesson, G. Hereditas 3:211, 1922. 



