''Atriplex parishii'' is an uncommon species of
saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to ''Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...
known by the common names Parish's saltbush and Parish's brittlescale. It is native to central and southern
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
where it can occasionally be found along the immediate coastline, and the
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
. Its distribution extended historically into the western edges of the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...
and
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
and it may still exist there.
This is a plant of
saline
Saline may refer to:
* Saline (medicine), a liquid with salt content to match the human body
* Saline water, non-medicinal salt water
* Saline, a historical term (especially US) for a salt works or saltern
Places
* Saline, Calvados, a commune in ...
and
alkaline soils
Alkali, or Alkaline, soils are clay soils with high pH (greater than 8.5), a poor soil structure and a low infiltration capacity. Often they have a hard calcareous layer at 0.5 to 1 metre depth. Alkali soils owe their unfavorable physico- ...
, such as those on
dry lake
A dry lake bed, also known as a playa, is a basin or depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappears when evaporation processes exceeds recharge. If the floor of a dry lake is covered by deposits of alkaline c ...
beds and ephemeral
vernal pools. There are five varieties of the plant, each growing in a separate and disjunct region of the species' distribution; some varieties are known only from the
Central Valley.
Flora of North America
/ref>
This is a small annual herb producing whitish scaly prostrate stems less than 20 centimeters long. The numerous rough whitish leaves are under a centimeter long and oval to somewhat heart-shaped. The flowers, both male and female types, are generally borne in hard clusters.
This species blooms from June to October.
References
External links
Calflora Database: ''Atriplex parishii'' (Parish's brittlescale, Parish's saltbush)
Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Atriplex parishii''
USDA Plants Profile for ''Atriplex parishii'' (Parish's saltbush)
UC Photos gallery: ''Atriplex parishii''
parishii
Halophytes
Flora of California
Flora of Baja California
Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
Natural history of the Central Valley (California)
Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges
Plants described in 1882
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