Atriplex hymenelytra

Desert-holly

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Desert-holly is a California native shrub found in the eastern Mojave Desert and Great Basin Desert regions on dry slopes, washes, and scrub areas at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from January to April, this plant produces small, inconspicuous flowers amid distinctive silvery-white, thick, wide-ovate leaves with irregular sharp teeth. Growing 3 to 10 decimeters tall with a rounded form, it develops many spreading to ascending branches from a simple, erect stem. Its leaves are thick and petioled, with blades 12 to 45 millimeters long, creating a distinctive silvery-scaled appearance that helps the plant blend into arid desert landscapes. The plant produces small seeds approximately 2 millimeters long, enclosed by round to kidney-shaped bracts in its fruit clusters.

Habitat: Slopes, washes, scrub

Bloom period: Jan-Apr

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: SNE, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo, San Diego, Imperial, Kern, Santa Barbara

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.