''Atriplex lentiformis'' (quail bush, big saltbrush, big saltbush, quailbrush, lenscale, len-scale saltbush and white thistle) is a species of saltbush.

Distribution

''Atriplex lentiformis'' is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in habitats with

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 ...

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 salt flats and dry lake beds, coastline, and desert scrub. It can also be found in nonsaline soils on riverbanks and woodland.

Description

''Atriplex lentiformis'' is a spreading, communal

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

reaching one to three meters in height and generally more in width. It is highly branched and bears scaly or scurfy gray-green leaves up to 5 centimeters long and often toothed or rippled along the edges. This species may be dioecious or monoecious, with individuals bearing either male or female flowers, or sometimes both. Male flowers are borne in narrow inflorescences up to 50 centimeters long, while inflorescences of female flowers are smaller and more compact. Plants can change from monoecious to dioecious and from male to female and vice versa. This species blooms in June and July.

Uses

This saltbush species, ''A. lentiformis'', and ''

Atriplex canescens ''Atriplex canescens'' (or chamiso, chamiza, four-wing saltbush) is a species of evergreen shrub in the family Amaranthaceae native to the western and midwestern United States. Description ''Atriplex canescens'' has a highly variable form, and ...

'' are the food plants for the saltbush sootywing ''

Hesperopsis alpheus ''Hesperopsis alpheus'', the saltbush sootywing, is a species of spread-wing skipper in the butterfly family Hesperiidae Skippers are a family of the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) named the Hesperiidae. Being diurnal, they are generall ...

'', a butterfly. ''Atriplex lentiformis'' is used in

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

of riparian habitats, one of the native plants in riparian zone restoration projects in its native ranges.

Lower Gila River and Colorado River regions

''Atriplex lentiformis'' grows in the

Mesquite Bosque Mesquite Bosque is a vegetative association within the Southwestern United States, under the Kuchler scheme of plant association categories. Geography The Mesquite Bosque association occurs in the Sonoran Desert, with mesquite (''Prosopis'' sp ...

vegetative association with the native Arrowweed - ''Pluchea sericea'', Velvet mesquite - ''Prosopis velutina'', and others in the Lower Colorado River Valley and

Gila River The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of n ...

valleys of southwestern Arizona, southeastern California, and northwestern Mexico. The maximum height occurs where a groundwater source supplies plentiful moisture, and

soil conditions are optimal for the quailbush with other plants losing from the competition. However, the

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

Tamarisk - ''Tamarix ramosissima'' and tumbleweed, Tumbling oracle - ''Atriplex rosea'' are successful and problematic competitors. The saltbush can reach tall and wide in advantageous growing locales, with the form becoming a large flattened

hemisphere Hemisphere refers to: * A half of a sphere As half of the Earth * A hemisphere of Earth ** Northern Hemisphere ** Southern Hemisphere ** Eastern Hemisphere ** Western Hemisphere ** Land and water hemispheres * A half of the (geocentric) celestia ...

, with adjacent hemispheres merging into an impenetrable thicket mass.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment — ''Atriplex lentiformis''USDA Plants Profile: ''Atriplex lentiformis'' (quail bush)efloras.org: Flora of North America treatment

efloras.org: Range Map''Atriplex lentiformis'' Photo gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4817590 lentiformis Flora of Arizona Flora of Baja California Flora of California Flora of Nevada Flora of Utah Flora of Sonora Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) North American desert flora Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Natural history of the Colorado Desert Natural history of the Lower Colorado River Valley Natural history of the Mojave Desert Plants described in 1853 Butterfly food plants Flora without expected TNC conservation status