Atriplex dioica
 
Saline Atriplex

Several Glomerules

Regina
27-August-2020

The flowers occur in clusters called glomerules.  Each glomerule contains a number of female flowers, each enclosed by two scurfy green bracteoles, as well as a few dark coloured male flowers with yellow anthers.

A key to all the Atriplex species occurring in Saskatchewan is found here.  This key was derived from the key in the Flora of North America by removing all the non-Saskatchewan species.  Another key to Atriplex species by Diana Bizecki Robson is found here.  A third key by Linda Kershaw and Lorna Allen is found here.

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Atriplex: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this genus. 
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herbs or low shrubs

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plants not spiny or prickly

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plants with hyaline or white encrusting scales on stem and leaves; NOT [plants densely pubescent with yellowish brown stellate hairs]

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stems not fleshy

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stems not jointed

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leaves alternate; NOT [leaves and branches opposite]

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leaves not reduced to scales

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petioles shorter than the lamina; NOT [petioles as long as and generally much longer than the lamina]

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flowers not sunk into the stem

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flowers not subtended by scarious bracts

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plants monoecious or dioecious

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staminate flowers without bracteoles but with a 3-5 lobed calyx; NOT [staminate flowers in catkin-like spikes, without a perianth, but subtended by peltate bracts]

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sepals herbaceous or fleshy; NOT [sepals scarious]

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pistillate flowers lacking a perianth but possessing a pair of bracteoles that enclose the ovary and enlarge in fruit

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fruiting bract united, at least at base

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fruiting bracts not covered with silvery, silky hairs

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fruit not 2-toothed at apex

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seed coat not winged at apex

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seed coat leathery; NOT [seed coat membranous]

 

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Amaranthaceae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora leading to this family.  Not all the answers apply to all the genera in Amaranthaceae, but they all do apply to Atriplex
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herbs or occasionally low shrubs; NOT [shrubs or trees]

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land plants; NOT [water plants]

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plants not parasitic on trees, rooted in soil

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plants not twining and climbing

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plants without milky sap

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plants monoecious or dioecious

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flowers with only one floral ring, with sepals but not petals

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pistillate flowers without calyx

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stigmas 2; NOT [stigmas 1]

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fruit not catkin-like; NOT [pistillate flowers and fruit in catkin-like spikes]

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fruit enclosed in 2 bracteoles; NOT [fruit enclosed by 2-4 perianth segments]

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NOT [fruit 3-seeded, splitting open at maturity]