Atriplex parishii

Parish's brittlescale

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1

Parish's brittlescale is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native annual found in southern California coastal and peninsular ranges in alkaline or clay soils at elevations below 470 meters. Flowering from June to October, this plant produces white-scaly flowers with distinctive ovate to diamond-shaped bracts. Growing prostrate to decumbent, with stems less than 20 centimeters tall and generally brittle with dense white woolly tips, it spreads low across the ground. Its opposite leaves are small, 3 to 9 millimeters long, with lanceolate to ovate blades that are densely white-scaly and have acute tips. The seeds are approximately 1 to 1.2 millimeters long, with a distinctive reddish-brown coloration.

Habitat: Alkaline or clay soils

Bloom period: Jun-Oct

Elevation: < 470 m

Bioregions: SCo, PR

California counties: Riverside, Fresno, San Diego, Los Angeles, Madera, Tulare, Glenn, Stanislaus, Kings, Orange, Alameda, Ventura, Yolo

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