Atriplex micrantha

Russian atriplex, Russian Atriplex

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Russian atriplex is a naturalized annual plant found in the Klamath Ranges, California Roaded Forests, Central Valley, Western Transverse Ranges, and Great Basin (excluding White and Inyo Mountains) in open, disturbed places at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from May to October, this plant produces green flowers with distinctive triangular to lanceolate leaves that vary in size. Growing with stiff, ascending branches 50 to 150 centimeters tall, it has a green striate stem with sparse scales. Its leaves range from 10 to 65 millimeters long, with proximal leaves opposite and distal leaves alternate, featuring entire to irregularly wavy-dentate edges and a hastate or tapering base. The plant produces two kinds of seeds: small spheric black seeds 1 to 1.5 millimeters long and larger flattened yellow-brown seeds 2 to 3 millimeters long.

Habitat: Open, generally disturbed places

Bloom period: May-Oct

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: KR, CaRF, GV, WTR, GB (exc W&ampI)

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