''Atriplex leucophylla'' is a 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 beach saltbush and white orache. It is native to the coastline of

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 ...

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 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, ...

, where it is a resident of beach dunes and other sandy areas.

Description

This is a short, sprawling perennial herb reaching a maximum height near 30 centimeters. The branching stems grow along the ground or slightly upright and may be up to a meter- 3 feet long. The plentiful leaves are oval in shape and are 1 to 4 centimeters long. The foliage and sometimes the stems are rough with whitish scaly surfaces. The plants are

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy is conne ...

, with individuals producing male and female flowers. The staminate (male) flowers grow in rounded clusters and lack

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s. The

pistillate Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

(female) flowers are oval or round ovaries surrounded by spongy bracts. They develop into fruits containing small seeds. The bloom period of this species is one of the longest of the ''Atriplex'' genus. It blooms from April to October.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfileFlora of North AmericaPhoto gallery
leucophylla Flora of Baja California Flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Channel Islands of California Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{amaranthaceae-stub